Take steps to protect strategic monazite reserves: Subramanian Swamy to PM

NEW DELHI: Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy today demanded that steps should be taken to protect and conserve strategic reserves of monazite sands in south India - a major source of thorium.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Swamy claimed there have been some cases of illicit exports of such sands from southern India and cases in this regard have been pending in courts.

"Protection of the strategic mineral sands should be entrusted to a joint command of Central Paramilitary or better still Armed Forces to overcome the present intolerable situation of private mafias controlling access," he said.