Takerghat Hillocks

Takerghat Hillocks small low hills. The Takerghat Hillocks are situated in the Sunamganj district and have a maximum elevation of about 22m above mean sea level. They consist of Palaeogene sediments belonging to the Tura and Sylhet Limestone formations. Although the sandstone of the Tura forms four small hills in the Takerghat area the top of the formation lies buried under the alluvium. Alternating white, pink and brown, fine to coarse grained extensively crossbedded sandstones, light-grey, ash-grey shales, mudstones and streaks of carbonaceous matter make up the Tura Formation in that area. Outcrops of the Sylhet limestone in Bangladesh are confined to the narrow strip of the E-W aligned Dauki Fault zone along the southern spur of the Shillong Massif. The exposed limestone occurrences are located at the bank of the Dauki Nala, in the Takerghat-Lalghat-Bhangerghat area and near Bagali Bazar, all in the Sylhet district.

In 1961, the Geological Survey of Pakistan started a drilling programme at Takerghat hillocks to see southwards dipping limestone outcrops. At that time a privately operated limestone quarry was opened, which ran until 1965, when the East Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation took up the operation of the quarry. Total production of limestone was 375,000 ton from 1965 to 1968. But by 1980 annual production declined and came to 60,000 ton. The entire output is used to feed the Chhatak Cement Factory. In the Takerghat hillocks the limestone banks show significant variations in thickness due to faulting. From the surface down to a depth of about 150m, the total reserves are estimated at 14 million ton. Several E-W extended lignite to sub-bituminous coal seams of the Lower Eocene age are found between the villages of Lalghat and Takerghat. [Sifatul Quader Chowdhury]