The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) has urged the Central Government to reopen the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) yard in Coimbatore to tide over shortage of raw materials faced by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.
Coimbatore:
“The SAIL yard in Coimbatore was closed in 2015 due to construction of a railway over bridge. Though the RoB was completed in 2017, there has been no sign of opening the yard despite submitting several representations in this regard,” said R Ramamurthy, president of CODISSIA, in a statement issued on Tuesday.
At present, the firms in Coimbatore are buying steel from SAIL yard in Tiruchy or Chennai at a higher cost incurred due to transportation.
“Due to the closure of SAIL yard, private operators like JSW group and Tata Limited are capitalising on the situation. They dictate the terms, while also charging a premium price for steel,” he said.
As a result of fluctuation in the market price of steel, the firms end up making loss, resulting in the closure of many units.
“With Coimbatore proposed to be developed into a defence manufacturing hub in near future, the requirement of steel is only going to increase. The SAIL yard should be made functional at the earliest to avoid exploitation of MSME firms by private suppliers,” Ramamurthy added.
CODISSIA has also sought to reintroduce the system of allocation of raw materials to MSME firms at a subsidised price as was done earlier through nodal state government distribution systems like SIDCO, SAIL and NSIC.
The average consumption of steel in Coimbatore is about two lakh tonnes per month.
Pressing their demands, R Ramamurthy and M V Ramesh Babu, vice president of CODISSIA, had submitted memorandums recently to Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh and Union Minister of State (independent charge), MSME, Giriraj Singh in New Delhi.