Guwahati, Sept 9: The Northeast has once again found itself at the lower end of the clean air rankings, with cities from the region lagging behind in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards 2025, announced today by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

The awards, presented by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav today, recognised the best-performing cities across three population categories as part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which evaluates 130 cities annually on their efforts to improve air quality.

Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan is structured as a rigorous, multi-tiered evaluation mechanism, founded on comprehensive due diligence under the National Clean Air Programme. The programme is conducted annually for 130 cities under NCAP to promote healthy competition among cities and encourage them to take expeditious actions to improve air quality. Cities participating in the National Clean Air Programme have been implementing clean air action plans to address air pollution in various sectors, including road dust, waste management, vehicular pollution, construction and demolition waste management, and industrial pollution.

While Indore, Amravati, and Dewas topped their respective categories with near-perfect scores and innovative green initiatives, the Northeast showed mixed results, struggling to break into the top tier.

In Category-2 (population between 3–10 lakh), Guwahati was placed 21st, far behind leaders like Amravati and Jhansi. Despite being Assam’s largest city and gateway to the region, Guwahati’s ranking highlights the continuing challenge of vehicular pollution, waste management, and rapid urbanisation along the Brahmaputra.

In Category-3 (population under 3 lakh), smaller towns fared only marginally better. Nalbari (Assam) secured the 15th rank, while Silchar and Sibsagar were tied at 20th. Kohima (Nagaland) slipped to 38th, and Byrnihat on the Assam–Meghalaya border ranked 39th, underscoring the persistent problem of industrial and traffic-related pollution in the border belt.

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