Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026:
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) organized Swachh Vayu Diwas 2026 on the occasion of the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (7thSeptember).
- During the event, the 5th Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards were conferred on the best-performing cities and wards under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). Additionally, a Compendium of Best Management Practices under NCAP was released to facilitate the replication of successful air quality interventions across states.
- Introduced in 2022-23, the framework evaluates cities on specific measures taken to curb air pollution.
- These include managing road dust, solid waste management (SWM), vehicular and industrial emissions, construction and demolition (C&D) waste, and commercial emissions (like DG sets), alongside public outreach activities.
- The assessment covers all 130 NCAP cities, dividing them into three distinct groups based on population size:
- Population above 10 Lakh
- Population between 3 to 10 Lakh
- Population below 3 Lak
Key Highlights of the 5th Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (2026):
Top Performing Cities:
- Category 1 (Population > 10 Lakh): Lucknow secured the top rank for proactive measures like inducting EVs into municipal fleets, mechanized road sweeping, and remediating legacy waste. It was followed by Indore (2nd) and Jabalpur (3rd). Conversely, Chennai, Jamshedpur, Kota, Kolkata, and Madurai ranked in the bottom five. Delhi stood at the 30th spot.
- Category 2 (Population 3-10 Lakh): Rourkela (Odisha) emerged as the top performer.
- Category 3 (Population < 3 Lakh): Kalinganagar (Odisha) secured the first position.
Introduction of Ward-Level Awards: The Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 also introduced ward-level rankings across three population categories.
- Category I: Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) and Nashik (Maharashtra) secured the top three ranks for wards with over 30,000 population.
- Category II: Bhubaneswar (Odisha) wards ranked first, followed by Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) and Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh).
- Category III: Rourkela (Odisha) and Nalgonda (Telangana) secured the top two positions among wards with less than 10,000 population.
Data from 2025-26 indicates measurable progress compared to the 2017-18 baseline.
- Out of 130 NCAP cities, 108 recorded reduced PM10 levels. Notably, 72 cities achieved reductions of over 20%, and 26 cities achieved reductions exceeding 40%.
- The released document aggregates successful mitigation strategies in road dust control, vehicular/industrial pollution, solid waste, and construction & demolition (C&D) waste management to act as a blueprint for State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs).
