Navi Mumbai Crowned India's Cleanest City in Swachh Survekshan

The Cliff News | 13 November 2026

In a notable shift in national urban sanitation rankings, Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra has been recognized as India's cleanest city. The prestigious Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 were presented by the President of India at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, celebrating achievements in cleanliness and sanitation.

Navi Mumbai secured the coveted top position in the Super Swachh League, a testament to its sustained efforts in maintaining high sanitation standards. This year's awards marked the 10th edition of the Swachh Survekshan survey, conducted under the theme, 'Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel- Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath' (A New Initiative for Cleanliness - Lend a Hand, Clean Together).

Key Rankings and New Categories

Following Navi Mumbai in the Super Swachh League were Surat (Gujarat) at second place and Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) securing the third position. The survey also introduced new categories to acknowledge diverse environmental efforts.

In population-wise rankings, Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) led the cities with a population of 3 to 10 lakh, with Chandigarh and Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) following. For cities with over 10 lakh population, Greater Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) emerged as the cleanest, ahead of Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Lucknow.

Special Accolades for Environmental Focus

Significant attention was given to special categories this year. Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) was honored as the Clean Himalayan City, with Jammu and Shopian (J&K) also receiving recognition. The Swachh River Front Towns award went to Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), followed by Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Puri (Odisha) clinched the top spot in the Swachh Coastal Towns category, highlighting its commitment to cleanliness along the coastline. Alappuzha (Kerala) and Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) were also recognized in this segment.

Innovative 'Swachh Sheher Jodi' Initiative

A unique addition to this year's awards was the 'Best Swachh Sheher Jodi' category. This initiative draws inspiration from India's Guru-Shishya tradition, pairing a high-performing 'Mentor' city with a less-performing 'Mentee' city to foster knowledge sharing and collaborative improvement under the 'Each One - Teach One' principle.

Across the nation, 70 mentor cities were paired with 191 mentee cities. The rankings for this category are based on the combined performance of the mentor and mentee pair, rewarding successful mentorship and actual improvements. The top three mentor-mentee pairs recognized were Ahmedabad (Mentor)–Sanand (Mentee), Indore (Mentor)–Depalpur (Mentee), and Tirupati (Mentor)–Kuppam (Mentee).

Marked Improvement in Urban Sanitation

The Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 results also indicated a substantial improvement in urban sanitation nationwide. Over 350 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) achieved remarkable progress, advancing by more than 500 positions. Furthermore, more than 1,700 ULBs with populations under 50,000 saw their rankings improve compared to the previous year (2024-25), underscoring the widespread impact of these cleanliness initiatives.