Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026: Lucknow, Rourkela, Kalinga Nagar Top City Rankings
The 2026 Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan ranks 130 cities on pollution-control measures. Lucknow, Rourkela and Kalinga Nagar top their population groups.
The fifth edition of the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan, part of the National Clean Air Programme, has assessed 130 cities for their efforts in tackling air pollution during the 2025-26 financial year. The survey does not rank cities by their actual pollution levels or AQI, but rather evaluates the steps taken to control emissions from sources such as road dust, waste burning, construction debris, vehicles and industry. Improvements in PM10 levels and public awareness campaigns are also factored into the scoring.
Cities are divided into three groups based on population. Among the 48 cities with more than 10 lakh residents, Lucknow topped the list with 198 points out of 200. Indore followed with 197, and Jabalpur scored 195. Bhopal and Agra both secured 192 points, while Surat finished with 191. At the lower end of this group, Madurai recorded the lowest score of 132.1, followed by Kolkata at 142.2, Kota at 146.3 and Jamshedpur at 147.3.
Delhi scored 172 points, placing it 21st alongside Visakhapatnam. The capital finished ahead of Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata in this category.
In the group of 42 cities with populations between 3 lakh and 10 lakh, Rourkela in Odisha led with 198.5 points. Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh shared second place with 195 points each. Jalandhar recorded the lowest score in this bracket at 124.5, followed by Kalaburagi at 138.2 and Gaya at 140.9.
Among the 40 cities with fewer than 3 lakh residents, Kalinga Nagar in Odisha topped the rankings with 198.5 points. Angul and Talcher, also in Odisha, followed with 196.5 and 193.5 points respectively. Eluru in Andhra Pradesh scored 193, while Haldia in West Bengal recorded 190.6. Byrnihat in Meghalaya finished at the bottom with 108.5 points, ahead of Dera Bassi in Punjab at 110.5 and Kohima at 134.1.
The scores reflect how well cities have implemented the clean-air framework assessed by the survey. A high score indicates stronger performance on the pollution-control measures evaluated, but does not necessarily mean the city has cleaner air.