Navi Mumbai Secures Top Spot in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 Awards

Navi Mumbai has been crowned India’s cleanest city in the National Clean City category for the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 awards, with Surat and Vijayawada finishing as runners-up. President Droupadi Murmu presented the honors during a ceremony at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday. The tenth edition of the nationwide cleanliness assessment evaluated more than 4,700 cities across 43 indicators spanning 10 critical areas, incorporating feedback from over 27 million citizens.

Changes in Indore's Ranking and Mentor Initiatives

Indore, which previously held the top national ranking for consecutive years, moved into a newly introduced mentor city category under the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative. Ahmedabad and Sanand secured the top position in this category, followed by Indore and Depalpur in second place, and Tirupati and Kuppam in third. Solid waste management experts noted that Indore provided technical and operational support to Depalpur to assist with waste processing upgrades. The mentorship framework paired 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities to foster knowledge sharing and improve municipal sanitation services.

Population and Regional Category Winners

In population-based brackets, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation led cities with over one million residents, ahead of Jabalpur and Lucknow. Ujjain took the top spot in the 3 to 10 lakh population category, while Dewas ranked first among cities with populations between 50,000 and 300,000. Among smaller urban areas, Maharashtra's Vita led the 20,000 to 50,000 category, and Bilha placed first for municipalities with fewer than 20,000 residents. Over 1,700 urban local bodies with populations below 50,000 improved their overall positions compared to the previous assessment cycle.

Specialized Categories and Evaluation Metrics

The latest survey introduced several specialized classifications, recognizing Madhya Pradesh's Rewa as the top riverfront town, Odisha's Puri as the cleanest coastal town, and Uttarakhand's Rudrapur as the leading Himalayan city. Field evaluations relied on more than 3,000 trained assessors utilizing real-time GPS tracking and digital verification systems. According to housing ministry data, participating mentor-mentee municipalities demonstrated notable gains across sanitation parameters, including visible cleanliness, door-to-door collection, and source segregation.