NEW DELHI: Indore, the cleanest city in India, has also topped the list of million-plus- population cities in the ‘Swachh Vayu Survekshan’ (clean air survey) 2025 for implementing air pollution mitigation measures under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), even as the city lags in terms of reducing PM10, a key pollutant, levels in 2024-25.The survey has ranked cities on the basis of real action on the ground to deal with different polluting activities. It has put Navi Mumbai at 4th position, Kanpur at 5th, Bhopal at 6th, Allahabad at 7th, Chandigarh at 8th, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur at 10th, Varanasi and Raipur at 11th, Lucknow at 15th, Hyderabad at 22nd, Mumbai at 25th, Jaipur at 26th, Delhi at 32nd, Bengaluru at 36th, Kolkata at 38th and Chennai at 41st in the list of million plus population cities.
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Since reduction in PM10 concentration level has low weightage in the overall score, Indore and some other cities figure at the top of the list despite reporting higher levels of the pollutant than others which are not among the toppers in the annual ‘Swachh Vayu Survekshan’.Ironically, Indore has reported an increase in average annual concentration of PM10 in 2024-25 (83 μg/m3) compared to the 2017-18 level (82 μg/m3): a rise of 1.2%.In contrast, there are many million-plus-population cities such as Chennai (58 μg/m3), Varanasi (59 μg/m3), Bengaluru (68 μg/m3) and Hyderabad (81 μg/m3) which had not only lower PM10 concentration than Indore in 2024-25 but also substantially lower level of the pollutant compared to 2017-18.The results of the survey, announced by Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday, show Jabalpur, another city in Madhya Pradesh, at the second position on the list of million-plus-population cities, followed by Agra (UP) and Surat (Gujarat), which share the third spot.Indore regained its top position in 2025 after slipping to sixth rank last year. It topped the list for the first time in 2023, in the second edition of the survey, whereas Lucknow figured at the top in its inaugural edition in 2022.In 2025, Amravati secured first rank in the 3-10 lakh population category, followed by Jhansi and Moradabad (joint second rank), and Alwar (third rank). In the third category of cities (population under 3 lakh), Dewas (MP) secured first rank, followed by Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh) and Angul (Odisha).On the occasion, Yadav also revealed the progress made by cities, with PM10 levels going down in 103 out of the 130 cities under NCAP. He said 64 cities have shown a 20% reduction in PM10 levels in 2024-25 compared to 2017-18, and 25 cities have reached the 40% reduction mark.The environment ministry’s records show that Mumbai registered the highest decline of 44% in PM10 level in 2024-25 compared to 2017-18. It was followed by Kolkata (37%), Hyderabad and Bengaluru (26% each), Delhi (15%), and Chennai (12%) among the six big metro cities.Though a total of 22 out of the 130 cities have met the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) by reporting annual average PM10 concentrations of less than 60 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3), Chennai is only big metro that met the acceptable limit, recording an annual average of 58 μg/m3.On the other hand, the PM10 levels in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru continue to be higher than the acceptable limit by reporting 203 μg/m3, 92 μg/m3, 90 μg/m3, 81 μg/m3 and 68 μg/m3, respectively.Besides awarding the best-performing cities under ‘Swachh Vayu Sarveshan’ 2025, Yadav handed over certificates issued by Ramsar Convention Secretariat to the mayors and district collectors of Indore and Udaipur for being recognised as ‘Wetland Cities’ under the Convention.He also announced that the govt has targeted planting 75 crore plants during the ‘Seva Parv’ across the country under ‘Ek Ped Maa ke Naam’ campaign from Sept 17 to Oct 2.
