NEW DELHI, Nov 12: Navi Mumbai has emerged as India’s cleanest city, ending Indore’s eight years long run at the top of the national cleanliness rankings.
In the latest Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, Surat and Vijayawada secured the second and third spots, respectively, while Rewa was named the cleanest riverfront town and Rudrapur the cleanest Himalayan city. Among cities with a population exceeding 10 lakh, Greater Visakhapatnam topped the category, while Ujjain led the rankings among cities with populations between 3 lakh and 10 lakh.
This year, Indore, which had been ranked the cleanest city for the past eight consecutive years, was placed in a different category, securing the second position in the Mentor City category along with its partner town, Depalpur, under the newly introduced ‘Swachh Shehar Jodi’ initiative.
In this category, Ahmedabad secured the top position along with its partner town Sanand, while Tirupati bagged the third spot with its partner Kuppam. President Droupadi Murmu gave the awards to the winners. Over 4,700 urban local bodies participated in the survey.
Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa topped the list of cleanest riverfront towns, followed by Bilaspur and Varanasi in second and third positions, respectively.
According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry, in the Swachh Coastal Town category, Puri bagged the first position, followed by Kerala’s Alappuzha and Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri.
Rudrapur emerged as the cleanest Himalayan city, while Jammu secured the second position and Shopian third in this category in the Centre’s annual cleanliness survey.
The ministry said more than 3,000 trained assessors conducted extensive on-ground evaluations across the country, supported by real-time GPS-enabled monitoring.
From evidence submission to verification, the assessment process remained fully digital, transparent, and subject to rigorous quality checks at every stage, it said.
In the 50,000-3 lakh population category, Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas and Sagar emerged as the cleanest and third-cleanest cities, respectively, while the New Delhi Municipal Council held the second spot. In the 20,000-50,000 population category, Vita from Maharashtra ranked first; Aska in Odisha and Goa’s Panaji became the first and second runners-up.
The HUA Ministry said the performance of mentee cities has witnessed significant improvement across key Swachhata indicators between Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 and 2025-26. In the ‘Visible Cleanliness’ parameter, mentee cities have moved from 48 per cent in the previous year to 70 per cent in the latest edition.
“For ‘Door-to-Door Collection’, mentee cities were at 52 per cent in Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 and have now cumulatively reached 74 per cent. Mentee cities have also achieved notable improvements across key parameters such as: Source Segregation (from 16 to 30 per cent), Access to Sanitation (from 11 to 38 per cent), Used Water Management (from 32 to 53 per cent), and Advocacy for Swachhata (from 48 to 66 per cent), reflecting strengthened sanitation systems and improved service delivery outcomes through dedicated mentorship from high-performing cities,” it stated.
(Manas Dasgupta)