President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday felicitated the winners of the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, recognising cities for their performance in urban sanitation and cleanliness.
The awards were organised by the Department of Urban Development (DoUD) under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu were also present at the event.
A total of 60 national awards were announced across categories, including Swachh Shehar Jodi, Super Swachh League, Swachh Shehar in five population categories, Swachh River Front Town, Swachh Coastal Town, Clean Himalayan City and State First Swachh City.
Addressing the gathering, President Murmu said cleanliness could not be achieved through the efforts of any single institution and required the active participation of all stakeholders.
She emphasised citizen participation, behavioural change, administrative accountability and sustained public engagement in improving sanitation standards. The President also called for inculcating cleanliness habits among children from an early age, suggesting that issues such as plastic waste management be incorporated into school curricula.
Highlighting the contribution of sanitation workers, she said their suggestions and feedback from citizens should be given due importance. She also appreciated the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative, which enables cities to share innovations, exchange best practices and work together to improve urban cleanliness.
Union Minister Manohar Lal said the Swachh Bharat Mission, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had evolved into a nationwide people’s movement, bringing significant improvements in urban sanitation and citizen participation.
Highlighting the progress since 2014, he said urban waste processing had increased from 16 per cent to 80 per cent, while door-to-door waste collection coverage had risen from 44 per cent to more than 96 per cent. Remediation of legacy waste dumpsites had also freed nearly 11,000 acres of urban land for productive use, he added.
The minister said Swachh Survekshan had expanded significantly, from 73 cities in 2016 to 4,751 cities in 2025-26. Around 2.70 crore citizens provided feedback during this year’s survey, while more than 1,700 smaller cities improved their rankings. Over 350 cities registered improvements of more than 500 positions.
He urged states to organise Swachh Survekshan competitions at their respective levels to encourage healthy competition among urban local bodies (ULBs), particularly smaller towns, and improve sanitation standards.
Manohar Lal also highlighted the participation of nearly 2.10 crore citizens in Swachhata Hi Seva 2026, benefits extended to around 17 lakh SafaiMitras through more than 33,000 special camps, and the participation of nearly four lakh children in Gyan Yatras.
Under the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative, 70 mentor cities have been paired with 191 mentee cities to facilitate knowledge-sharing and improve sanitation outcomes. The minister also referred to special award categories for riverfront towns, coastal towns and Himalayan cities, besides recognition across five population categories.
He said the PRAGATI-50 initiative aims to develop 50 cities as model clean cities through technology-driven interventions and continuous monitoring. Congratulating the award winners, he reiterated the government’s commitment to making cleanliness an integral part of urban life and achieving the vision of a Swachh and Viksit Bharat.
Secretary of the Department of Urban Development Satendra Singh said Swachh Survekshan had, over the past decade, strengthened the assessment and improvement of urban sanitation services while delivering tangible results on the ground.
Describing the survey as more than an assessment exercise, he said it represented the collective voice of millions of people committed to the vision of a clean India. “Today is a celebration of the outstanding efforts made by our cities and citizens in advancing the cause of cleanliness,” he said.
Award-winning cities
The Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 results highlighted improvements across urban India, with more than 350 urban local bodies improving their rankings by over 500 positions. More than 1,700 ULBs with populations below 50,000 also improved their rankings compared with 2024-25.
Under the Swachh Shehar Jodi category, the top three city pairs were Ahmedabad-Sanand, Indore-Depalpur and Tirupati-Kuppam. The rankings were based on the combined performance of mentor cities, which were award winners in Swachh Survekshan 2024-25, and their respective mentee cities.
The initiative, launched after the 2024-25 awards, follows the principle of “Each One, Teach One”, drawing on India’s traditional Guru-Shishya model to promote the sharing of knowledge and best practices among cities. It aims to enable better-performing cities to support those seeking to improve their sanitation standards.
Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai, Gujarat’s Surat and Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada emerged as the top three clean cities in the Super Swachh League.
In the million-plus population category, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), Jabalpur and Lucknow secured the top three positions.
The survey also expanded its coverage to include Himalayan cities, riverfront towns and coastal towns. Uttarakhand’s Rudrapur, Jammu and Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir were recognised as the top three Clean Himalayan Cities.
In the Swachh River Front Town category, Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa secured the first position, followed by Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Odisha’s Puri, Kerala’s Alappuzha and Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri were recognised as the top three Swachh Coastal Towns.
To recognise excellence across states and Union Territories, the State First Swachh City award was conferred on 30 top-performing cities. Union Territories were divided into two categories for the awards: those with up to five ULBs and those with more than five ULBs.
Assessment framework
The 10th edition of Swachh Survekshan assessed urban local bodies against 43 indicators covering 10 critical domains, including waste segregation, collection and transportation, solid waste management, visible cleanliness, access to sanitation, mechanisation of desludging services, ecosystem strengthening and institutional parameters, used water management, advocacy for Swachhata, welfare of sanitation workers, and citizen feedback and grievance redressal.
More than 3,000 trained assessors conducted extensive field evaluations across the country, supported by real-time GPS-enabled monitoring.
The assessment process, from evidence submission to verification, was carried out through a digital and transparent framework with quality-control measures to ensure consistency and credibility.
-PIB
