MUMBAI: Activists have denounced the Kasturirangan high level working group for the exclusion of Dodamarg from ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) in its recommendations to the Union ministry of environment and forests.

The group was set up to review the report submitted by the Madhav Gadgil led Western Ghats ecology expert panel. "Dodamarg has been excluded and left open for mining. The Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor minus Dodamarg is a non-entity. Dodamarg is more eco-fragile than Sawantwadi.