ABSTRACT
The early geological surveys of the Indian sub-continent found so much of interest in the Deccan and the Himalayas that the area in between was scarcely considered. The vast mineral resources of the Chhota Nagpur Plateau completely dwarfed all other discoveries nearby. Limestone was quarried in the nineteenth century at Jaflong and Jaintia in Sylhet District. It has been found in a fairly large deposit in north-west Sylhet District near Takerghat. The natural gas resources, in contrast to peat, have been developed rapidly. Exploitable reserves of gas have been found at Haripur, Chhatak, Rashidpur, Shahi Bazar, Kailash-Tila, Brahmanbaria and Jaldi, the first five of which are in Sylhet District. In 1947, Bangladesh had electric power generating capacity of only 22,000 KW. This was located in only eighteen towns. The supply increased slowly and steadily. The first big step was the commission of the Sidhirganj Power Station near Narayanganj, which started in 1954 with a generating capacity of 18,500 KW.
