Navi Mumbai Named India Cleanest City in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26
Navi Mumbai has been recognized as the cleanest city in India at the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26, ending Indore's eight-year streak atop the national rankings. At a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, President Droupadi Murmu presented honours for the 10th edition of the annual urban assessment. Surat in Gujarat secured second position overall, while Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh finished third in the premier Super Swachh League standings. Indore transitioned to a mentorship role under the newly introduced Swachh Shehar Jodi framework, placing second alongside partner town Depalpur behind top-ranked pair Ahmedabad and Sanand.
Population Category Leaders and Regional Achievements
The nationwide survey evaluated urban local bodies across diverse population demographics and specialised geographic terrains. Among cities with populations exceeding 10 lakh, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation secured first place, followed by Jabalpur and Lucknow. In the mid-sized category spanning three lakh to 10 lakh residents, Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain took top honours, followed by Chandigarh and Guntur. For smaller urban centres between 50,000 and three lakh residents, Dewas emerged first ahead of the New Delhi Municipal Council and Sagar, while Vita in Maharashtra led the 20,000 to 50,000 bracket. State First Swachh City honours were conferred upon 30 top-performing urban centres across participating states and Union Territories.
Specialised Coastal, Riverfront and Himalayan Honours
The 2025-26 assessment incorporated dedicated categories evaluating specialized ecological zones, riverfront corridors, and coastal settlements. Puri in Odisha secured first position in the Swachh Coastal Town classification, followed by Kerala's Alappuzha and Maharashtra's Ratnagiri. Madhya Pradesh's Rewa emerged as the leading riverfront town, finishing ahead of Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. In mountainous regions, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand was recognised as the cleanest Himalayan city, followed by Jammu and Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir. Under Swachh Shehar Jodi, 70 mentor cities were paired with 191 mentee municipalities to facilitate knowledge-sharing and improve sanitation outcomes. The Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative was launched on September 27, 2025 across 33 States and UTs, according to Ekodemy.
Nationwide Sanitation Progress and Survey Scale
Since 2014, door-to-door waste collection coverage has risen from 44 per cent to more than 96 per cent, and remediation of legacy dumpsites has freed nearly 11,000 acres of urban land, Union Minister Manohar Lal said. Participation grew from 73 cities in 2016 to 4,751 cities in the latest edition, supported by feedback from approximately 2.70 crore citizens. More than 3,000 trained assessors conducted ground evaluations across 43 indicators covering 10 critical domains, with over 350 cities advancing by more than 500 positions.