Chennai's air quality worst among cities with 10L people

CHENNAI has been ranked at the bottom among million-plus cities in the Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2025, an annual ranking by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), released on Tuesday that evaluates cities on their air quality management and pollution control measures.

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @ Chennai

The city finished 41st out of 41 large cities (population above 10 lakh), with a score of just 115.3, far behind the top-ranked Indore, which secured a perfect score of 200. Other major cities such as Jabalpur, Agra, and Surat also figured in the top three, earning the title of 'National Clean Air City'.

The survey, part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), assessed 130 cities across three categories based on population. Cities were evaluated on multiple parameters including road dust management, vehicular emissions control, industrial emissions, construction dust, solid waste burning, and public awareness campaigns.