Impact of transport sector emissions on biochemical characteristics of plants and mitigation strategy in Pune, India

•Plant species Delonix regia and Annona squamosa are found to be tolerant to air pollution.•The polluted site and non-polluted site have a significant difference in all biochemical parameters (p≤0.007).•Chlorophyll b content among the three-plant species Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis and Tamarindus indica can be used to classify any locality as polluted or non-polluted.