Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026: City Rankings, Scores and Ward-Level Awards
Lucknow tops among the million-plus cities in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 with respect to steps taken to curb air pollution. Indore and Jabalpur have been awarded the second and third positions, respectively. The annual survey rates cities and towns for the measures taken to mitigate major sources of air pollution, namely road dust, construction debris, vehicular and industrial pollution.
The findings also bring out a crucial point. A city may rank high on the criteria of measures taken to control air pollution, without having achieved the stipulated ambient air quality standards.
Lucknow topped in the ranking with a score of 198 in Category-I, which consists of cities with populations exceeding 10 lakh.
Measures taken by Lucknow includes,
Indore, which holds the top position among Indian cities in Swachh Survekshan rankings for cleanliness, came second with a score of 197. Jabalpur bagged third position with a score of 195.
Measures taken by Jabalpur include waste-to-energy plant, waste collection and scientific waste disposal, mechanized street sweeping and electric vehicle
Lucknow emerged as the highest-ranked city with a score of 198, narrowly ahead of Indore.
| Rank | City | Score |
| 1 | Lucknow | 198 |
| 2 | Indore | 197 |
| 3 | Jabalpur | 195 |
| 4 | Bhopal | 192 |
| 4 | Agra | 192 |
| 5 | Surat | 191 |
| 6 | Raipur | 189 |
| 7 | Thane | 187 |
| 7 | Chandigarh | 187 |
| 7 | Rajkot | 187 |
| 8 | Ahmedabad | 186 |
| 8 | Vijayawada | 186 |
| 9 | Ghaziabad | 184 |
| 9 | Navi Mumbai | 184 |
| 10 | Nagpur | 183.8 |
Rourkela topped the 3–10 lakh population category with a score of 198.5. Firozabad and Guntur followed with scores of 195 each.
| Rank | City | Score |
| 1 | Rourkela | 198.5 |
| 2 | Firozabad | 195 |
| 2 | Guntur | 195 |
| 3 | Amravati | 194 |
| 4 | Bhubaneswar | 193.5 |
| 5 | Jhansi | 192.5 |
| 6 | Alwar | 192 |
| 7 | Latur | 188.5 |
| 8 | Moradabad | 187.5 |
| 8 | Noida | 187.5 |
| 8 | Udaipur | 187.5 |
| 9 | Nellore | 187 |
| 10 | Korba | 186.5 |
Kalinga Nagar secured the first position with a score of 198.5, followed by Angul at 196.5 and Talcher at 193.5.
| Rank | City | Score |
| 1 | Kalinga Nagar | 198.5 |
| 2 | Angul | 196.5 |
| 3 | Talcher | 193.5 |
| 4 | Eluru | 193 |
| 5 | Haldia | 190.6 |
| 6 | Vizianagaram | 189.5 |
| 7 | Dewas | 188 |
| 8 | Sangareddy | 186.8 |
| 9 | Damtal | 186 |
| 10 | Nalgonda | 185.8 |
The Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 also recognised wards for their performance in different population categories.
Category-I: Wards Above 30,000 Population
Category-II: Wards With 10,000–30,000 Population
Category-III: Wards Below 10,000 Population
The survey also listed state/UT-level awardees across the three population categories. Some important entries includes,
Although Lucknow was ranked first in the million-plus category, it is yet to meet the annual ambient air quality standard of 60 µg/m³.
The annual average PM10 level has dropped significantly from 250 µg/m³ in 2017–18 to 137 µg/m³.
This indicates why Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan ranking cannot be seen simply as the ranking of least polluted cities because it ranks cities based on interventions taken by cities to reduce pollution.
Delhi has been ranked 30th with a score of 172, whereas Mumbai stands at the 37th position with 160.8.
Chennai, Jamshedpur, Kota, Kolkata, and Madurai are some of the cities that have performed poorly in the lower range of Category-I.
The assessment is based on the efforts made by the cities in addressing various causes of air pollution.
Key indicators are,
One key factor in the evaluation is that the improvement in PM10 levels carries only 2.5% weightage in the rankings. Consequently, the evaluation assesses mainly how effective pollution-control efforts have been.
The survey conducted in 2026 also launched ward-level awards for recognition of local-level efforts to enhance the air quality.
Among the wards with a population of over 30,000, the first three ranks went to,
In the wards with the population of between 10,000 and 30,000, Bhubaneswar’s BMC Ward 36 and Ward 30 got the first position.
Rourkela’s RMC Ward 13 topped among the wards with the population of less than 10,000.
Several levels of evaluation take place in the process of assessment. Cities and towns are evaluated by the State Level Monitoring Committee and CPCB. Independent committees do the field verification.
First three cities/towns of each population category get cash prizes and mementos.
The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was initiated in January 2019 with the objective of addressing air pollution in Indian cities. Initially, NCAP included 130 cities and aimed at bringing about reduction in particulate pollution.
The first period of reduction targets up to 2025–26 is intended to reduce PM10 concentration by up to 40 percent compared to the base year 2019-20.
Financial resources for air quality improvement are sourced from different sources, such as Union Environment Ministry allocations, 15th Finance Commission grants, and convergence with schemes/programmes of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
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