Bengaluru: When it comes to air quality, Bengaluru has been ranked 32nd among 48 cities with populations above 10 lakh in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026, securing a final score of 152.6.The city ranked below Mumbai, which stood 28th with 160.8 points, and Hyderabad, which was placed 19th with 174.2 points. Bengaluru, however, fared better than Chennai, which ranked 35th with 147.7 points.The results place Bengaluru in Category I of the survey, covering cities with populations above 10 lakh. Lucknow topped the category with a score of 198, followed by Indore with 197 and Jabalpur with 195. Madurai, with a score of 132.1, ranked last among the 48 cities in the category.The awards were announced in Delhi Monday, coinciding with the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, at the Swachh Vayu Diwas 2026 event organised by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.Karnataka’s mixed showingKarnataka had four cities in the survey results. While Bengaluru was placed 32nd in the largest-city category, Davanagere secured the 11th rank in Category II, covering cities with populations between 3 lakh and 10 lakh, with a score of 183.6.Hubballi-Dharwad was ranked 19th in the same category with 177.2 points, while Kalaburagi was placed 36th with a score of 138.2.Koramangala finds mentionBengaluru also figures in the Karnataka entries for the state-level ward awards under the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan. “Koramangala_W151” has been listed in Category I for wards with populations above 30,000. The state-level awards list does not assign individual national ranks to these entries.The national awards in the category went to a ward in Lucknow, followed by wards in Bhopal and Nashik.For Karnataka, the state-level awards also list two Davanagere’s wards, one each in Category II, covering wards with populations between 10,000 and 30,000, and Category III for wards with populations below 10,000.
