City Beautiful, take a bow. Chandigarh has been adjudged the second cleanest among cities with a 3 to 10 lakh population, under the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26. Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain secured the first position in this category, while Guntur in Andhra Pradesh bagged the third spot.
Chandigarh has retained the second spot for the second consecutive year. In the previous assessment (2024-25) too, the city had secured the second position, after Noida, in the Super Swachh League category, having cities with a population of 3 lakh to 10 lakh.
The fresh results were announced during a prestigious award ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on Wednesday.
Chandigarh mayor Saurabh Joshi and municipal commissioner Amit Kumar were presented the award by President Droupadi Murmu, recognising the city’s performance in maintaining cleanliness, strengthening sanitation services and promoting public participation.
The feat comes amid the municipal corporation’s efforts to clear legacy waste at the Dadumajra dumping site. The civic body has completed the bio-mining of all three legacy waste mounds at the site. The first mound, comprising five lakh metric tonnes of waste spread over 20 acres, was cleared on January 25, 2024; the second, comprising eight lakh metric tonnes spread over eight acres, on December 31, 2024; and the third, comprising two lakh metric tonnes spread over nine acres, on April 30, 2026.
The MC had accelerated the processing of the remaining legacy waste, including an estimated 2.4 lakh metric tonnes in the final phase, by deploying public-sector undertakings (PSUs) in double shifts. Last month, the civic body assured the Punjab and Haryana high court that it would make all efforts to process and dispose of the mixed waste lying at the site by November 15.
{{/usCountry}}The MC had accelerated the processing of the remaining legacy waste, including an estimated 2.4 lakh metric tonnes in the final phase, by deploying public-sector undertakings (PSUs) in double shifts. Last month, the civic body assured the Punjab and Haryana high court that it would make all efforts to process and dispose of the mixed waste lying at the site by November 15.
{{/usCountry}}10th year of assessing cities for cleanliness
The Swachh Survekshan, marking its 10th edition this year, is the country’s comprehensive annual assessment of urban cleanliness and sanitation. Under this, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) evaluates cities on a total of 12,500 marks, distributed across 10 core parameters and 43 indicators. These include waste segregation, collection and transportation, solid waste management, visible cleanliness, access to sanitation, mechanised desludging services, institutional strengthening, used water management, sanitation awareness, welfare of sanitation workers, and citizen feedback and grievance redressal.
Mayor Joshi said the national recognition is a testament to the collective efforts of the MC’s sanitation workforce, officers and officials, along with the active participation of city residents and other stakeholders. “It also reinforces Chandigarh’s commitment to continuously improving civic services and setting higher benchmarks in urban sanitation,” he said.