Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Angul has bagged the third rank in the ‘National Clean Air City’ award among the cities having less than three lakh population in Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2025.
The results of the survey were announced by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on Tuesday.
The performance of urban Odisha in the national clean air city survey showed a mixed result as Bhubaneswar improved its rank by two positions, while cities like Cuttack and Rourkela and Balasore presented a discouraging show.
Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav presented the awards to the best performing cities in three different categories as part of the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Awards & Wetland Cities Recognition Ceremony held in New Delhi.
Angul, one of the 130 urban centres covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), was conferred the award for improving its air quality by working on road infrastructure and conducting public outreach activities to bring down air pollution.
The award included Rs 12.50 lakh cash prize. District authorities said the award is the result of active steps taken to prohibit polluting truck movement within the town limits in the last two years.
This is the second time that Angul has been recognised with the award, the first being in 2023. Besides, Angul is the only urban area from the state that has been managed to get to the top three.
Besides Angul, Bhubaneswar improved its position from rank seven to five this year among the cities having a population between three and ten lakh. Similarly, Talcher, competing in the category of below three lakh population, maintained its position as the fourth clear air city among the NCAP covered urban areas for the second year in a row.
