Chandigarh: Chandigarh has consolidated its position among India’s better-performing big cities on clean air, moving up one notch to 7th rank in the Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2026, after breaking into the top 10 for the first time last year.The city scored 187 out of 200 in the 2026 survey, placing it alongside Thane and Rajkot at the seventh spot among 48 Category-I cities with a population of more than 10 lakh. Lucknow topped this year’s list with 198 marks, followed by Indore at 197 and Jabalpur at 195.The latest performance builds on Chandigarh’s sharp turnaround in 2025, when it jumped to 8th position with a score of 186.6, up from 27th in 2024. In the 2023 survey, the city had been ranked 22nd among 47 cities.From 27th in 2024 to 7th in 2026The 2025 jump was particularly significant, with Chandigarh improving 19 places in a single year. Its score also rose by more than 30 points from the previous assessment.Multiple agencies contributeA senior UT official said the improvement reflected continued efforts by several stakeholders, including the Municipal Corporation, traffic police, transport department, state transport department and Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC).“Expansion of green cover through urban forestry and plantation drives, stricter enforcement of dust-control measures at construction sites, and the push towards electric public transport and EV charging infrastructure were among the measures that helped Chandigarh improve its performance,” said a senior UT official.The official also credited the city with scientific remediation of legacy waste, expansion of the non-motorised transport network, automatic road sweeping and water sprinkling, management of construction and demolition waste, and the use of Intelligent Traffic Management Systems to reduce congestion and vehicular emissions.Air quality improvement carries limited weightThe survey assesses cities on a wider set of pollution-control measures rather than only their ambient air quality. Key parameters include municipal solid-waste management, road-dust mitigation, management of construction and demolition waste, vehicular emissions, industrial and other emissions, public awareness and the trend in particulate matter.Reduction in PM10 concentrations accounts for only 2.5% of the overall score, making sustained implementation of pollution-control measures across departments important for a city’s final ranking.The Swachh Vayu Survekshan is conducted annually by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). Cities are assessed through state-level monitoring, evaluation by the Central Pollution Control Board and independent field verification.The NCAP, launched in January 2019, covers 130 cities and targets a reduction of PM10 concentration by up to 40% by 2025-26 compared with 2019-20 levels.BOX1: State Level Awards – 3 Best Performing WardsCategory 1 (>30,000)Ward | Ward Councillor / Elected Representative | Best Practicesward 2 | Maheshinder Singh Sidhu | Efficient Grievance Redressal 100% waste segregation at sourceward12 | Saurabh Joshi | Source segregation collection, Zero litter policies and Plantationward23 | Prem Lata | Strengthened 4R implementation, Model ward in Chandigarh for civic management and 100% waste segBOX2: CHANDIGARH IN VAYU SURVEKSHAN| Year | Chandigarh’s rank | Score | Cities in Category-I || 2023 | 22| 174.5 | 47 || 2024 |27 | 156 | 43 || 2025 |8 | 186.6 | 48|| 2026| 7 | 187 | 48|
