Swachh Survekshan: Alappuzha is India's second-cleanest coastal town; Mattannur is Keralam's best city

Thiruvananthapuram: Keralam has earned national recognition in the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26, with Alappuzha securing the second rank among India's cleanest coastal towns. Mattannur was named Keralam's State First Swachh City, recognising its performance in urban cleanliness and waste management.

Known as the 'Venice of the East', Alappuzha secured the second position in the newly introduced Swachh Coastal Town category for towns with populations between 50,000 and three lakh. Odisha's Puri topped the list, while Maharashtra's Ratnagiri came third. This is the first time that coastal towns have been given a separate category in the annual cleanliness survey.

The awards were presented by President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. The 10th edition of the annual cleanliness survey covered more than 4,700 urban local bodies (ULBs) and announced 60 national awards across various categories.

• Swachh River Front Town: Madhya Pradesh's Rewa topped the Swachh River Front Town category, followed by Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur and Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.
• Clean Himalayan City: Uttarakhand's Rudrapur topped the list, followed by Jammu and Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Super Swachh League: Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai, Gujarat's Surat and Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada emerged as the top three clean cities in this category.
• Million-plus population: Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), Jabalpur and Lucknow secured the top three positions.
• 3-10 lakh population: In the 3-10 lakh population category, Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain topped the rankings, followed by Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh's Guntur. In the 50,000-3 lakh category, Dewas in Madhya Pradesh secured the first position, followed by the New Delhi Municipal Council and Sagar in Madhya Pradesh.
• 20,000-50,000 population: In the 20,000-50,000 population category, Maharashtra's Vita topped the list, followed by Aska in Odisha and Panaji in Goa.

The awards also recognised collaboration between cities through the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative. Ahmedabad-Sanand, Indore-Depalpur and Tirupati-Kuppam were the top three mentor-mentee pairs. The initiative pairs better-performing cities with those seeking to improve their sanitation standards, encouraging the sharing of knowledge and best practices.

Indore, which topped the national cleanliness rankings for eight consecutive years, was placed in the mentor city category this year, securing second place with its partner town, Depalpur. The initiative has improved sanitation indicators among mentee cities. Their performance in visible cleanliness improved from 48% in 2024-25 to 70% in 2025-26, while door-to-door waste collection coverage rose from 52% to 74%. Source segregation also improved from 16% to 30%.

The survey results showed improvements across urban India, with more than 350 ULBs climbing over 500 positions in the rankings. More than 1,700 smaller cities with populations below 50,000 also improved their rankings compared with 2024-25.

This year's survey covered 4,751 cities, with 2.70 crore citizens providing feedback. More than 3,000 trained assessors evaluated urban local bodies across 43 indicators covering key areas, including waste segregation, collection and transportation, solid waste management, visible cleanliness, sanitation facilities, used water management and the welfare of sanitation workers. The assessment was supported by real-time GPS-enabled monitoring and a digital verification process.

Addressing the award ceremony, President Droupadi Murmu stressed that cleanliness required the active participation of citizens, local administrations and sanitation workers. She also highlighted the importance of behavioural change and public engagement in sustaining sanitation initiatives.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal said urban waste processing had increased from 16% in 2014 to 80%, while door-to-door waste collection coverage had risen from 44% to more than 96%. He also said the remediation of legacy waste dumpsites had freed nearly 11,000 acres of urban land for productive use.

The Swachh Survekshan, which began with 73 cities in 2016, has expanded to cover 4,751 cities in its 2025-26 edition.