Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026: Lucknow, Rourkela And Kalinga Nagar Top Their Categories
Three cities top their categories in India’s clean-air survey.
Lucknow, Rourkela and Kalinga Nagar have emerged as the leading cities in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 for reducing PM10 concentrations compared with the baseline year of 2017-18. The assessment was conducted under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which focuses on improving air quality through city-level measures and monitoring.
Lucknow topped Category I, comprising cities with populations above 1 million, with a score of 198. Other leading cities in the category included Indore, Jabalpur, Agra, Surat and Raipur. Among Category II cities with populations between 300,000 and 1 million, Rourkela secured the top position with a score of 198.5, followed by Ferozabad, Guntur, Amravati and Bhubaneswar.
Kalinga Nagar led Category III, covering cities with populations below 300,000, with a score of 198.5. Angul, Talcher, Eluru and Haldia followed in the category, which included 40 cities. The survey found that 108 of the 130 cities covered under the programme recorded improvements in PM10 concentrations compared with their respective levels in 2017-18.
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The assessment also showed that 72 cities achieved more than a 20 per cent reduction in PM10 concentrations from their baseline levels, while 26 cities recorded reductions of more than 40 per cent. PM10 pollution can come from road and construction dust, vehicle emissions, industrial activity, and biomass and waste burning, making reductions in the pollutant an important indicator of progress in improving ambient air quality.
According to the assessment, 14 cities have met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM10. However, the latest results do not include an update on PM2.5, a finer particulate pollutant that can penetrate deeper into the respiratory system. The absence of PM2.5 data means the assessment does not provide a comparable picture of progress for that pollutant.
The findings point to continued progress under the NCAP, with a majority of the cities covered reporting lower PM10 levels than their 2017-18 baseline. Further strengthening pollution-control measures, monitoring systems and city-level action plans could help more urban centres sustain reductions and move towards meeting national air quality standards.
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