Mumbai Improves Civic Services But Lags In Environmental Performance: Praja Foundation Civic Report 2026

Mumbai, June 30: Mumbai's delivery of civic services has improved but falls short on environmental performance and climate accountability, the Praja Foundation's Civic Paper 2026 states.

The study finds that Mumbai has made measurable progress in improving several civic services over the past decade. Waste generation has reduced by 27%, while door-to-door waste collection improved from 80% to 100%.

Waste segregation increased from 27% to 86%, and scientific waste disposal improved from 30% to 88%, reflecting sustained efforts to strengthen the city's solid waste management system.

Service Delivery Improves

The report also states that Mumbai's grievance redressal mechanism has become more responsive. Overall complaint closure improved from 86% in 2023 to 92% in 2025, while the average complaint resolution time reduced from 48 days to 30 days.

For solid waste management, one of the city's highest complaint categories, the average resolution time reduced significantly from 40 days to eight days, reflecting improved administrative efficiency.

However, the report also finds that these improvements are accompanied by persistent structural challenges.

According to the Praja report, citizen complaints registered through Mumbai's civic complaint system increased by 59% from 2016 to 2025. Among all complaint categories, pollution complaints recorded the sharpest increase, growing by 531%, while complaints related to solid waste management increased by 281%.

Complaints related to water supply and stormwater drainage also rose by 96% and 88%, respectively. While these figures reflect continuing civic concerns, they also indicate greater citizen awareness, wider use of digital grievance platforms and rising expectations for better service delivery.

Environmental Challenges Persist

The report also highlights that despite notable improvements in waste management, Mumbai continues to fall short of national cleanliness benchmarks. Although the city applied for a 3-Star Garbage Free City certification under Swachh Survekshan 2024-25, it failed to secure even a 1-Star certification.

Milind Mhaske, CEO, Praja Foundation, said, "Civic participation should not end with voting; it should continue through reporting local issues, engaging with ward-level representatives, participating in consultations, and using public data to hold institutions accountable. When citizens, elected representatives and officials work together, governance becomes more transparent, responsive and effective. Informed citizen participation is essential to ensuring that this potential translates into measurable improvements in people's daily lives."

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Beyond waste management, the study highlights continuing environmental challenges, including polluted rivers and beaches, poor sewerage treatment performance, non-compliance of several Sewage Treatment Plants with pollution standards, inadequate monitoring of key Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) indicators, and the absence of annual public reporting on climate targets.

The report recommends integrating MCAP indicators into the statutory Environment Status Report to create a single public climate reporting mechanism.

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