Karnal brought home a national cleanliness honour on Wednesday, 11 November 2026 — and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini made clear the city's achievement belongs to every resident who swept a street, segregated waste, or simply cared. The award was received at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, in the gracious presence of President Draupadi Murmu.

Karnal's recognition at Vigyan Bhawan

Speaking about the moment, CM Saini wrote: 'करनाल को स्वच्छ सर्वेक्षण 2025-26 में मिला सम्मान पूरे हरियाणा के लिए गर्व का विषय है' — 'The recognition Karnal has received in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 is a matter of pride for all of Haryana.' He credited the honour directly to the city's aware citizens, its safai mitras (sanitation workers), and the officers and staff of Karnal Municipal Corporation.

The ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan is the annual showcase of the Swachh Survekshan rankings — the nationwide urban cleanliness audit conducted under the Swachh Bharat Mission. President Murmu's presence at the event lent the occasion its ceremonial weight, with top-ranked cities from across the country receiving their awards.

From sanitation infrastructure to behavioural change

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, the immediate targets were toilets and open-defecation-free villages. Twelve years on, the mission has evolved into something harder to quantify — a behavioural shift, measured every year through Swachh Survekshan's city rankings and visible in the competitive spirit it now generates between municipalities. CM Saini acknowledged this arc directly, calling the mission a 'wide campaign of public participation' across the country.

Haryana has positioned its municipal machinery within that national framework, pushing urban local bodies to improve not just cleanliness but broader civic amenities and urban aesthetics. Karnal's recognition this cycle is a marker of that integration working.

The workers who made it happen

Perhaps the sharpest line in Saini's post was also the most grounded: credit, he said, goes first to Karnal's aware citizens, then to its safai mitras — the frontline sanitation workers whose daily labour rarely makes headlines — and finally to the municipal corporation's officials and staff. It is a deliberate ordering, putting the people who do the work before the institution that organises it.

His closing pledge: that the spirit of cleanliness must become 'a part of the life of every city and every citizen' in Haryana — signalling that the state government intends to push other municipalities to replicate Karnal's approach in coming Swachh Survekshan cycles.