Surat has been ranked as the best major city in India for improving air quality, followed by Jabalpur and Agra, according to the Union Environment Ministry.
The rankings were announced during the Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 event, held in Jaipur on Saturday, marking the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. Surat, Jabalpur, and Agra topped the list for cities with a population of over 1 million.
Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, Amravati in Maharashtra, and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh were recognised as the top cities with populations between 300,000 and 1 million. Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, Nalgonda in Telangana, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh led the rankings for cities with fewer than 300,000 residents.
The Swachh Vayu Survekshan is part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and evaluates cities on air quality improvements and the implementation of approved action plans. Initiatives that contributed to the improvements included road paving, mechanical street sweeping, solid waste management, greenbelt development, and intelligent traffic systems.
India launched NCAP in 2019, aiming to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30% by 2024, with 2017 as the baseline. This target was revised to a 40% reduction by 2026, using 2019-20 as the base year.
The programme currently includes 131 non-attainment cities, which consistently failed to meet national air quality standards from 2011 to 2015.
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