The present study was intended to determine the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) concentration in fly ash (FA), soil, plant, and vegetable to assess the impacts of pollution on the nearby areas of coal-fired thermal power plant (TPP). The PTEs concentrations (mg/kg) in FA were Cr (48–74) > Pb (41–65) > Cd (7.4–9.7) > As (3.19–4.43) > Hg (0.518–0.598). The contamination factor (C_f) for Cd was highest in agricultural soil (C_f = 22) followed by roadside soil (C_f = 20), and forest soil (C_f = 15), which showed that the soil was strongly polluted due to the presence of Cd. The ecological risk index (ERI) in the topsoil of roadside area was also very high (1130), due to the high value of ecological risk factor of Cd (898) and Hg (213). The health risk associated with the intake of soil containing PTEs were also estimated by calculating hazard index (HI), and the values showed that the risk posed to children was minimum (HI < 1). But in case of roadside area, the HI was very close to one (0.975) indicating that the prolong exposure may pose severe health risk. The bioaccumulation coefficient of all PTEs for Albizia lebbeck and Madhuca longifolia were < 1, indicating less PTEs accumulation in the plant species. The hazard quotient of all PTEs (except of Hg) through vegetable consumption (Allium cepa and Raphanus sativus) was > 1, which signifies that the long-time consumption of contaminated vegetables may cause severe risk to the people.

本研究旨在确定飞灰（FA），土壤，植物和蔬菜中潜在的有毒元素（PTE）浓度，以评估污染对燃煤火力发电厂（TPP）附近区域的影响。FA中PTE的浓度（mg / kg）为Cr（48-74）> Pb（41-65）> Cd（7.4-9.7）> As（3.19-4.43）> Hg（0.518-0.598）。Cd的污染因子（C _f）在农业土壤（C _f = 22）中最高，其次是路边土壤（C _f = 20）和森林土壤（C _f= 15），这表明由于Cd的存在，土壤被严重污染。由于Cd（898）和Hg（213）的生态风险因子的价值较高，路边地区表层土壤的生态风险指数（ERI）也很高（1130）。还通过计算危害指数（HI）来估计与摄入含PTE的土壤有关的健康风险，该值表明对儿童构成的风险最小（HI <1）。但是在路边区域，HI非常接近1（0.975），这表明长时间接触可能构成严重的健康风险。Albizia lebbeck和Madhuca longifolia所有PTE的生物蓄积系数小于1，表明植物物种中较少的PTE积累。通过食用蔬菜（葱属洋葱和萝卜），所有PTE（汞除外）的危险系数均大于1，这表明长期食用受污染的蔬菜可能给人们带来严重的风险。