Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate the
response of plants exposed to lignite-based thermal power plant
emission. For this purpose, five plant species were collected from 1.0
km distance (polluted site) and control plants were collected from
20.0 km distance (control site) to thermal power plant. The common
tree species Cassia siamea Lamk., Polyalthia longifolia. Sonn,
Acacia longifolia (Andrews) Wild., Azadirachta indica A.Juss, Ficus
religiosa L. were selected as test plants. Photosynthetic pigments
changes (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids) and rubisco
enzyme modifications were studied. Reduction was observed in the
photosynthetic pigments of plants growing in polluted site and also
large sub unit of the rubisco enzyme was degraded in Azadirachta
indica A. Juss collected from polluted site.