Around 60,000 sq km of Western Ghats, spread across six states, should be turned into a no-go area for commercial activities like mining, thermal power plants, polluting industries and large housing plans, the high-level working group headed by Planning Commission member K Kasturirangan has recommended.

The committee has not recommended an outright rejection of the Athirappilly hydroelectric project in Kerala and Gundya dam in Karnataka. It has warned that the state government must assess if the Athirappilly dam is viable and if the trade off against the loss of irreplaceable biodiversity is beneficial.