This project proposes several mining projects in the Western Ghats of the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The area is rich in endemic and endangered species of flora and fauna, many of which are listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and serves as an important wildlife corridor for large animals, including the endangered Tiger and Asiatic Elephant. Forty-nine mining leases, including those for iron ore mining, were planned to be operational in the Sawantwadi-Dodamarg wildlife corridor. If granted, these leases would destroy approximately 200 sq km in the core of the central Western Ghats. Runoff and siltation from the mining would damage numerous perennial springs, streams, rivers, irrigation canals, plantations, and agricultural lands, as well as pose a significant risk of large-scale deforestation and water scarcity. The displacement of local communities was also a major concern. The ecologically rich and sensitive Taluka of Dodamarg was excluded from the protected zone of the Western Ghats report, seemingly to facilitate the initiation of mining operations in the Western Ghats wildlife corridor.

Vanashakti intervened to prevent the mining leases from functioning.

Today, the entire belt is protected, and the Taluka has been declared as a “No Tree Felling Zone