Patna: Patna has emerged as one of the country’s most active cities in the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 citizen feedback exercise, securing third place nationally with more than seven lakh responses from residents.
Data released on Sunday afternoon showed that 7,05,036 citizens had submitted feedback on sanitation and civic amenities in the state capital, placing Patna behind only Lucknow and Indore.
Lucknow currently leads the national rankings with 9,03,240 responses, while Indore occupies second place with 8,63,752 submissions.
The strong public participation marks an improvement for Patna, which had finished fourth nationally in the citizen feedback category during the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 assessment.
Other Bihar Smart Cities Trail Behind
Patna’s performance stands in sharp contrast to the participation levels recorded in Bihar’s other Smart Cities.
According to the latest figures, Muzaffarpur has received only 6,003 citizen responses, while Bhagalpur has recorded 4,828. Biharsharif has registered the lowest participation among the state’s Smart Cities, with just 901 responses.
Municipal officials believe higher public engagement is essential to accurately reflect the city’s sanitation performance during the national assessment process.
The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been encouraging residents to submit feedback online to strengthen the city’s position in the survey and ensure citizen experiences are reflected in the final rankings.
Citizen Feedback A Key Component
Citizen participation forms a significant component of the Swachh Survekshan evaluation process, which assesses urban cleanliness and public service delivery across the country.
Residents are asked to rate services such as door-to-door waste collection, segregation of dry and wet waste, street cleaning, cleanliness of public spaces, maintenance of public toilets, awareness of Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (RRR) centres and grievance redressal mechanisms.
The survey also seeks feedback on the overall effectiveness of sanitation systems and waste management practices in urban local bodies.
Rankings Based On 12,500 Marks
The Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 assessment covers work undertaken between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
Urban local bodies will be evaluated on a total of 12,500 marks.
Of these, 9,500 marks have been allocated for on-ground assessment, making field verification the most heavily weighted component of the survey.
Citizen feedback accounts for 1,000 marks, while 2,000 marks are reserved for certifications such as Open Defecation Free (ODF), Water Plus and Garbage-Free City status.
The citizen feedback portal remains active during the assessment period. Residents can submit their responses through the cf.sbmurban.org portal or the Swachh MoHUA mobile application. Only one response per mobile number is counted.
Officials noted that the same questions are also being posed to residents during field inspections conducted by central assessment teams, with those responses contributing to the overall score.
With field assessments ongoing, municipal authorities are hoping continued public participation will help strengthen Patna’s standing in this year’s national cleanliness rankings.
