Indore (Madhya Pradesh's commercial capital, long celebrated as India's cleanest city) has dropped from first to second place in India's 2026 Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (Clean Air Survey), scoring 197 out of 200 for cities with populations over one million, just one point behind Lucknow, which claimed the top position. Local authorities attributed the slide to the city's failure to fully meet PM10 particulate matter standards — a significant concern given Indore's status as the state's most vehicle-dense city. The mayor has pledged a range of remedial measures, including expanding electric bus services, converting garbage-collection fleets to electric vehicles, and shifting industrial fuel use to cleaner alternatives such as compressed natural gas.