The 2026 Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards were presented on Monday, September 7, 2026, by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India. The rankings were announced during the fifth edition of the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards, held as part of the national observance of Swachh Vayu Diwas (Clean Air Day), an annual event aligned with the United Nations’ International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.Cities and towns across the country were ranked on the basis of the Swachh Vayu Survekshan Framework released in 2022-23. The framework had laid down measures to tackle road dust, vehicular emissions, and industrial pollution, among others.

In the survey of Category-I cities with a population of more than 10 lakh, Srinagar ranks 26th with a score of 162.6 points. In 2025 Srinagar got ranking of 21 with a score of 169.2 and in 2023, the city had secured 4th rank with a score of 184.6. Srinagar has therefore slipped by 5 points as compared to 2025 and by 22 points as compared to 2023. The data submitted for 2024 was not approved by the Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), as per the Portal for Regulation of Air-Pollution in Non-Attainment Cities (PRANA), managed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for monitoring and managing the implementation of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

It is also noteworthy that Srinagar is 5 points behind Delhi, which has secured 21st rank with a score of 172 points. Delhi is frequently in the news during the winter season due to its poor Air Quality Index (AQI) caused by atmospheric........

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