Kanpur: Kanpur has slipped to the 11th position in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (Clean Air Survey) 2026, falling six places from last year’s ranking. The city secured 183.2 points in the survey in which 48 cities were assessed.The decline comes as a major setback for Kanpur, which had remained among the top five cities in the survey during the past two years. Despite substantial expenditure by the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) and other departments on measures aimed at improving air quality, the city has failed to maintain its position among the better-performing cities.Officials said several projects, involving expenditure of more than Rs 300 crore, have not yielded the desired results. The KMC executed development works worth Rs 594 crore and Rs 765 crore under the 15th Finance Commission during the last year. Despite this, several city roads continue to be riddled with potholes, contributing to dust pollution.The Public Works Department (PWD) has also spent around Rs 400 crore, but the condition of several roads remains poor, with dust continuing to be a major source of air pollution.Metro construction, sewer-line laying and road construction work in several parts of the city have further aggravated the dust problem. Construction of 10 roads under the CM Grid project has also come under scrutiny, with officials admitting that the work has not been carried out as per the required standards, resulting in increased dust in the air.According to KMC officials, controlling pollution generated by construction sites, damaged roads and road dust remains the biggest challenge before the city. They said unless these sources are effectively controlled, improving Kanpur’s ranking in the clean air survey would remain difficult.The latest ranking has raised questions over the effectiveness of the various measures and expenditure undertaken by civic and other govt agencies to improve Kanpur’s air quality.
