Swachh Survekshan 2025-26: Andhra Pradesh wins six awards; Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati-Kuppam in national top three

Andhra Pradesh came away from New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan with six Swachh Survekshan awards on Wednesday, 11 November, one more than it won in the previous round, as President Droupadi Murmu handed out the 2025-26 honours for India’s cleanest cities. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and the Tirupati-Kuppam pair were named among the top three in national categories.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced 60 national awards for this edition. Andhra Pradesh’s share was six of the 60, against five of 78 in 2024-25, Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana told a press conference in the capital after receiving the awards.

Where the six awards went

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation was ranked among the three best cities with more than 10 lakh people, alongside Jabalpur and Lucknow; the Minister said Visakhapatnam stood first in that group. Vijayawada took third place among the clean cities of the Super Swachh League, behind Navi Mumbai and Surat, a league reserved for earlier winners.

Tirupati and Kuppam won as one of the top three Swachh Shehar Jodis, a new category that scores a mentor city together with the smaller town it was paired with to guide. The other two winning pairs were Ahmedabad with Sanand and Indore with Depalpur. Guntur and Rajamahendravaram completed the state’s tally, the Minister said.

The survey covered 4,751 cities and towns. More than 3,000 assessors checked them on 43 indicators, from door-to-door collection and waste processing to public toilets and the welfare of sanitation workers, and 2.70 crore residents gave feedback, the ministry said in its release.

What the state says comes next

Narayana put the legacy waste removed from Andhra Pradesh’s dumpsites at 153 lakh tonnes. Sixty of the 106 waste-processing plants sanctioned for the state are running, he said, and 26 more will follow soon. He gave six months for a sewage treatment plant in each municipality and 18 months for a plant that turns garbage into power. Swachh Andhra cleanliness drives take place on the third Saturday each month.

Towns that missed the national list still have a state round. The ministry said state-level winners will be honoured at separate ceremonies in each state; the full results are on the Press Information Bureau release.