The Maharashtra Urban Development department has instructed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to include a clause in permission the civic body grants for repair and construction activity, to allow inspection of stagnant water at the sites.

The decision comes as malaria and dengue cases are being reported in Central Mumbai.

The decision to issue specific instructions and introduce the clauses was taken in a meeting called by Minister for Public Health, Suresh Shetty last week.

Shetty, alarmed by 192 deaths in Mumbai due to dengue and malaria in the last few months, called an urgent meeting of health and urban development departments in the Mantralaya. Health officials blamed large construction sites in areas of Sion-Sewri, Parel, Worli, Andheri, Vile Parle, Kurla, and Kalina for the rising malaria cases.

Urban Development department officials said BMC commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya has been informed to direct all construction sites to prevent stagnation of water on the premises, where mosquitoes can breed.

“We have told the BMC that when they give permission for a building, there has to be a check on water stagnation and maintenance of hygiene. Developers and builders have to be responsible and maintain cleanliness,” said TC Benjamin, principal secretary, UDD.

UDD officials said the developers have to ensure there is no stagnation of water at construction sites which lead to growth of malaria larvae.

The state has been registering over 67,000 malaria cases every year since 2007. Of the total cases registered, around 38 per cent were in Mumbai in the last two years. In 2007, a total of 67,850 cases were registered in the state of which 25,403 were from Mumbai. Mumbai had 26,021 of the total 67,333 malaria cases reported in 2008.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has introduced a mobile van under its Bangalore Healthy Urbanisation Project (BHUP). It is primarily to check the spread of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) among poor people.

The van will be equipped with instruments to test blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol. A doctor and a nurse from a nearby BBMP Health Centre, a lab technician and a student of Masters in Social Work will go to various places for screening twice a month in the van.

“Through this mobile van, we want to reach out to the people where health facilities are not available.

We want to generate awareness and screen those having likely symptoms of these NCDs,” L T Gayathri Devi, Chief Health Officer, BBMP told Express.

C Kameshwari Devi, Local Coordinator, BHUP, said that the project would begin in April, with the project concentrating on the Vidyapeeta slum areas first.

“The people in Vidyapeeta slum said that the hospital gets closed by 4 pm, so they do not get time after work. Some came up with reasons that the Health Centres were far, they did not have direct transport facility so they could not go for check up,” said Kameshwari.

A research was conducted under the BHUP in seven areas: Mathikere, Vidyapeeta, Moodalpalya, Pobbathy, Robertson Road, Shantinagar and Vasanthanagar.

The research revealed that among these areas, NCDs were most prevalent in and around Vidyapeeta. Around 11 per cent of the population in the surrounding areas suffer from NCDs, out of which only two per cent had the access to healthcare facilities.

Kameshwari said that the link workers would go door to door to provide the facilities to lower the incidence of NCDs. She said that their focus was to control especially sugar and cholesterol-related diseases, which were spreading alarmingly. “After the screening, cases which require further treatment will be referred to referral hospitals and treated as per the need,” she added.