Which cities featured at top of Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026?
What's the story
Lucknow has topped the fifth Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026, a survey that ranks Indian cities on their efforts to improve air quality. The city scored 198 out of 200, narrowly beating last year's winner Indore. Madhya Pradesh's Indore, Jabalpur, and Bhopal followed closely behind in the rankings. Agra in Uttar Pradesh and Surat were also among the top five cities with populations over one million.
Low ranks
How did major cities perform?
In stark contrast to Lucknow's achievement, Delhi was ranked 30th with a score of 172/200.
The national capital is often referred to as the world's most polluted city based on its Air Quality Index (AQI).
Meanwhile, Mumbai and Bengaluru fared worse at ranks 37 and 41, respectively.
Hyderabad was placed at rank 27 in the survey.
Smaller cities
Best performers among smaller cities
Odisha's Rourkela topped the list of smaller cities (3-10 lakh population) with a score of 198.5. Bhubaneswar, the state capital, was fourth in this category.
Firozabad and Guntur shared second place while Amravati came third.
In cities with under three lakh population, Kalinga Nagar topped, followed by Angul and Talcher, all located in Odisha.
Ward competition
Micro-ward competition results
In the first-ever micro-ward competition, Lucknow's Ward 70 topped the charts. It was followed by Bhopal's Ward 60 and Nashik's Ward 7.
The survey evaluates cities on various parameters including road dust, solid waste management, vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, construction and demolition waste management, other emissions (DG sets and commercial setups), and awareness activities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
Pollution reduction
Improvement in air quality over years
Between 2017-18 and 2025-26, a whopping 108 out of 130 cities covered by the NCAP have shown an improvement in PM10 levels.
Out of these, 72 cities have reduced their PM10 levels by over 20%.
Lucknow's air quality has improved significantly, with annual PM10 concentration declining from a high of 250 micrograms per cubic meter in 2017-18 to 137 micrograms per cubic meter now.