Navi Mumbai cleanest city: Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 ends Indore’s eight-year run at the top

The Navi Mumbai cleanest city ranking was reported on 12 November, when the Maharashtra city topped the Centre’s Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 and ended Indore’s eight-year run at No. 1, NewsDrum reported. Gujarat’s Surat finished second and Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada third in the Super Swachh League category.

What the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 results say

NewsDrum said President Droupadi Murmu presented the awards at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, recognising cities and towns for waste management, sanitation and public cleanliness. Gulf News said Navi Mumbai had ranked third last year, behind Indore and Surat. Daily Jagran said the survey also recognised cities in other categories, including riverfronts, coastal towns and Himalayan regions.

In its report ahead of the awards, Akashvani News said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs described this edition as giving greater emphasis to citizen feedback and wider coverage of urban river fronts.

Key numbers

• More than 4,700 urban local bodies took part in the annual survey, according to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, as Gulf News reported.
• 70 mentor cities and 191 mentee cities across 33 states and Union Territories are brought together in the new Swachh Shehar Jodi programme, Daily Jagran said.
• Eight consecutive years: how long Indore dominated the national rankings before this one, NewsDrum said.

Why Indore is not in the top three: the Swachh Shehar Jodi category

This year Indore did not compete for the familiar cleanest city title. It entered the newly introduced Swachh Shehar Jodi category, which NewsDrum said evaluates how successfully cities help other towns improve their sanitation systems. Indore, paired with the smaller town of Depalpur, secured the second position in that category. Gulf News said Ahmedabad and its partner Sanand topped it, with Tirupati and Kuppam third. Rankings in the category are based on the combined performance of the mentor and mentee cities, NewsDrum said.

Navi Mumbai cleanest city: what drove the rise

Gulf News, citing The Times of India, said Navi Mumbai’s rise followed several years of sustained efforts to improve waste management, public sanitation and citizen participation. The same report, as relayed by Gulf News, quoted local activists and residents who questioned the city’s cleanliness standards, citing encroached footpaths and unresolved civic complaints. The reports seen at the time of writing carried no response from the Navi Mumbai civic body.

Background: other winners, including Uttarakhand

Special categories also had winners. NewsDrum named Rewa, Rudrapur and Puri. NIS reported earlier that Rudrapur was named top Clean Himalayan City in the same survey. Daily Jagran said Greater Visakhapatnam was recognised among cities with a population of over 10 lakh, and Ujjain among cities in the 3 to 10 lakh category.

What happens next

The full winners list by category sits in the reports linked above, and it shows where other cities placed against the Navi Mumbai cleanest city result. Whether the civic body answers the complaints cited by The Times of India is the next thing to watch in this story.