MADURAI | Jul 20, 2015: Situated next to the sprawling Madakulam village tank is Kovalimalai - a 1,500 feet tall hillock - with a temple of Goddess Kabaleeswari at the top. For villagers of Madakulam, the hillock and the temple are important places but they are worried that soil miners have been looting the hillock in the recent days.

According to villagers, the soil miners use an earthmover and trucks and operate during nights in stealth. They target the red soil of the hillock which fetch good prices since realtors use them as landfill. Despite maintaining vigil, the miners allegedly manage to slip away when officials reach the spot, said A Marisamy from Madakulam.

The lone hillock near the village tank still has its unique eco-system and is home to small mammals like foxes, hares, reptiles and many birds. The villagers have planted many trees along the steps leading to the hilltop temple as well as at the bottom of the hillock. A committee from the village takes care of these works, and this sudden looting has pained them a great deal.

"We have formed ourselves into groups and keep vigil but they are evading us. We are pained to see fresh marks of quarrying on the hillock every alternate day," said A Sokkalingam, another villager. The villagers also petitioned the district administration to curb illegal soil mining.

Till 2011, the area was under panchayat and it was annexed with the city corporation later as ward 75. With this switch of administration, the villagers are struggling to safeguard the hillock and the village tank.

The hillock also has a police transmitter. But the surveillance over the transmitter has been rare for some months, paving way for soil smugglers to thrive in the area, villagers say.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)