8 
BA.Lli AND SIMPSON : COALFIELDS OF INDIA. 
CHAPTER IT. 
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RESPECTIVE COALFIELDS. 
Extent of the CDal 
beaiini' rocks 
(i). Introductory. 
In 1873, Mr. T. W. H. Hughes^ put 
forward the following estimate of the extent 
of the known coal-bearing rocks in India : — 
Name of area. Square miles. 
Godavari and its affluents . . . 11,000 
Son .... 
Sarguja or Gangpur 
Assam 
Narbatla and its affluents 
Damuda 
Rajmalial 
Unsurveyed and uncomputed 
8,000 
4,500 
3,000 
3,500 
2,000 
300 
2,700 
35,000 
This estimate is probably somewhat in excess of the truth, but 
the additional evidence to date does not permit of a much closer 
approximation. Over a considerable portion of the area the coal- 
bearing rocks are covered by younger deposits and must lie at 
unworkable depths. 
Although the coal-mining industry has now been in operation in 
India for more than a century, and although 
fields™*'^' °^ ^^^^^ li^s been a steady increase in production and 
consumption, which has been especially notable 
in the last decade, still it must be stated that the development of 
the coal resources of the country is as yet in an imperfect condi- 
tion. Of the numerous coalfields of proved value in India 18 are 
actually being worked, but only 7 are of any considerable import- 
ance, whilst 89 per cent, of the total output is produced in the 
Raniganj and Jharia fields. The reason for this state of things 
1 Bee. Oeol. Surr. ind.. Vol. VI, p. 65 (1873). 
