See Full Document Text
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3117
TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2026
Air quality ranking for cities
3117. SHRI PARIMAL NATHWANI:
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:
(a) the air quality ranking for cities in various States and Union Territories and the names of cities
that have not met National Air Quality Standards;
(b) the details of funds allocated and achievement of objectives under National Clean Air Programme
(NCAP) during the last three years, State-wise and year-wise; and
(c) the details of top-10 cities with cleanest air in terms of AQI during the last three years along with
their average annual AQI index figure?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE
CHANGE
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) to (c): Government has launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 as a long-
term, time-bound, national-level strategy to address air pollution in 130 cities across 24 States/UTs.
City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared for all 130 cities under NCAP to implement
air quality improvement measures in respective cities to target air pollution sources like soil & road
dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, construction & demolition activities and industrial
pollution.
“Swachh Vayu Survekshan” initiative of MoEF&CC is conducted annually to rank 130 cities under
NCAP on the basis of implementation of air quality improvement activities in three groups
categorised based on population, in line with Swachh Vayu Survekshan Framework. Details of
ranking of 130 cities carried out under “Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2025” along with cities that have
not met NAAQS for PM10 levels (60 µg/m3) are enclosed at Annexure-I.
Out of 130 cities covered under NCAP, 48 Million-Plus Cities/Urban Agglomerations are funded
under the XV Finance Commission (XV FC) through its Million-Plus Cities Challenge Fund
(MPCCF), while the remaining 82 cities are funded under the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) ‘Control
of Pollution’ (CP) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
Performance linked grant of ₹ 13,865.52 crore has been released to 130 cities as a critical gap funding
to implement air pollution mitigation measures, since 2019-20 to till date.State-wise and year-wise details of funds released under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
since 2022-23 under the XV Finance Commission (XVFC) and the Central Sector Scheme ‘Control
of Pollution’ (CP), are provided in Annexure-II.
Air Quality Index (AQI) has been classified into Good Days having AQI<200 (Good: 0-50,
Satisfactory: 51-100, Moderate: 101-200) and Bad Days having AQI > 201 (Poor: 201-300; Very
Poor: 301-400; Severe: 401-500). Top ten cities that have recorded highest number of Good days in
the year 2025, 2024 and 2023 are enclosed at the Annexure-III.
***Annexure-I
Ranking of 130 cities carried out under Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2025
Category-I: List of Cities- Population above 10 Lakhs
Sl.No. City/ Town Rank
1 Indore 1
2 Jabalpur 2
3 Agra 3
4 Surat 3
5 Navi-Mumbai 4
6 Kanpur 5
7 Bhopal 6
8 Allahabad 7
9 Thane 7
10 Chandigarh 8
11 Trichy* 9
12 Ahmedabad 10
13 Pune 10
14 Nagpur 10
15 Varanasi* 11
16 Raipur 11
17 Ghaziabad 12
18 Vijayawada 13
19 Vadodara 14
20 Vasai Virar 14
21 Rajkot 15
22 Lucknow 15
23 Nashik 16
24 Vishakhapatnam 17
25 Ludhiana 18
26 Faridabad 19
27 Asansol 2028 Srinagar 21
29 Hyderabad 22
30 Jamshedpur 23
31 Durg Bhilai 24
32 Mumbai 25
33 Jaipur 26
34 Patna 27
35 Gwalior 28
36 Dhanbad 29
37 Ranchi 30
38 Amritsar 31
39 Delhi 32
40 Meerut 33
41 Aurangabad 34
42 Jodhpur 35
43 Bangalore 36
44 Kota 37
45 Kolkata 38
46 Howrah 39
47 Madurai 40
48 Chennai* 41
Note: * marked cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10
levels for FY 2024-25 and other cities have not met NAAQS for PM10 levels.Category-II: List of cities-Population from 3 to 10 Lakhs
Sl.No.
City/ Town Rank
1 Amravati 1
2 Moradabad 2
3 Jhansi* 2
4 Alwar 3
5 Bhubaneswar 4
6 Gorakhpur 5
7 Firozabad 5
8 Guntur 6
9 Bareilly* 7
10 Ulhasnagar 8
11 Noida 9
12 Cuttack 10
13 Gaya 11
14 Rajahmundry* 12
15 Ujjain 13
16 Devanagere* 14
17 Udaipur 15
18 Sagar 16
19 Rourkela 17
20 Korba 18
21 Nellore* 18
22 Dehradun 19
23 Hubli-Dharwad 20
24 Guwahati 21
25 Jammu 22
26 Kadapa* 23
27 Latur 24
28 Solapur 2529 Jalgaon 26
30 Badlapur 27
31 Sangli 28
32 Kurnool* 29
33 Muzaffarpur 30
34 Chandrapur 31
35 Patiala 32
36 Akola 33
37 Barrackpore 34
38 Anantapur* 35
39 Gulburga* 36
40 Durgapur 37
41 Kolhapur 38
42 Jalandhar 39
Note: * marked cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10
levels for FY 2024-25 and other cities have not met NAAQS for PM10 levels.Category-III: List of cities- Population less than 3 Lakh
Sl.No. City/ Town Rank
1. Dewas 1
2. Parwanoo* 2
3. Angul 3
4. Talcher 4
5. Anpara 5
6. Nalagarh 6
7. Raebareli 7
8. Vizianagaram 8
9. Haldia 9
10. Baddi 10
11. Balasore 11
12. Paonta Sahib 12
13. Nalgonda 13
14. Rishikesh 14
15. Nalbari 15
16. Srikakulam 16
17. Sangareddy 17
18. Kashipur 18
19. Kalinga Nagar 19
20. Silchar* 20
21. Sibsagar* 20
22. Ongole* 21
23. Damtal* 22
24. Gajraula 23
25. Sunder Nagar* 24
26. Nagaon 25
27. Khurja 26
28. Kala Amb 2729. Pathankot/Dera Baba* 28
30. Chittoor* 29
31. Jalna 30
32. Eluru 31
33. Naya Nangal* 32
34. Gobindgarh 33
35. Dimapur 34
36. Dera Bassi 35
37. Thoothukudi* 36
38. Khanna 37
39. Kohima 38
40. Byrnihat 39
Note: * marked cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10
levels for FY 2024-25 and other cities have not met NAAQS for PM10 levels.Annexure II
State-wise details of funds released during the financial years 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and
2025-26 under the XV Finance Commission (XV FC) and the Central Sector Scheme ‘Control
of Pollution’ (CP)
(Rs. in crore)
Funds released during the year
Sr.
State
no
FY 2022-23 FY 2023-24 FY 2024-25 FY 2025-26
Andhra
1
Pradesh 75.06 49.81 67.54 46.16
2 Chandigarh 6.87 8.05 - 10.56
3 Chhattisgarh 57.94 1.69 49.49 5.07
4 Gujarat 173.29 277.42 197.56 -
Himachal
5
Pradesh 3.59 3.19 - 5.34
Jammu &
6
Kashmir 32.50 62.49 - 72.05
7 Jharkhand 42.00 - - -
8 Karnataka 128.52 27.51 - 28.41
Madhya
9
Pradesh 135.04 43.18 154.90 29.21
10 Maharashtra 386.83 70.08 - 40.44
11 Odisha 38.52 20.23 - 32.93
12 Punjab 56.88 53.55 38.14 100.10
13 Rajasthan 103.76 80.63 63.05 14.15
14 Tamilnadu 129.22 38.93 113.43 140.31
15 Telangana 92.96 164.07 112.36 3.73
16 Uttar Pradesh 672.83 594.94 422.19 457.75
17 Uttrakhand 22.30 29.18 - 34.70
18 West Bengal 173.42 312.76 209.77 27.32
19 Bihar 7.09 10.82 30.39 21.67
20 Assam 24.10 34.20 - 38.06
21 Nagaland 3.95 9.00 - 11.13
22 Meghalaya 0.45 4.50 - 4.21
23 Delhi 22.50 8.94 - 38.67
24 Haryana 19.28 - 33.61 -
Total 2408.90 1905.17 1492.43 1161.97Annexure -III
Details of ten cities having highest number of Good days in the year 2023, 2024 and 2025
S. No. City Good Days in 2023
1 Bengaluru 365
2 Hyderabad 365
3 Varanasi 365
4 Agra 364
5 Raipur 362
6 Chennai 362
7 Ahmedabad 362
8 Thiruvananthapuram 361
9 Chamarajanagar 360
10 Moradabad 358
S. No. City Good Days in 2024
1 Bengaluru 366
2 Hyderabad 366
3 Varanasi 366
4 Bhilai 366
5 Solapur 366
6 Raipur 365
7 Thiruvananthapuram 365
8 Chennai 364
9 Indore 364
10 Mumbai 364
S. No. City Good Days in 2025
1 Bengaluru 365
2 Hyderabad 365
3 Raipur 365
4 Chennai 365
5 Aurangabad 365
6 Nashik 365
7 Navi Mumbai 365
8 Thane 365
9 Indore 364
10 Mumbai 364
*****