Coimbatore : Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to initiate steps to restart the operations of SAIL yard in the city, which would help the MSMEs in the region.

The yard was closed in 2015 to facilitate the construction of a railway overbridge, which was completed in 2017, Codissia president R Ramamuthy said in a statement  here.

The association had already submitted memorandums to the Union Ministers and secretaries concerned in this regard, he said.

MSMEs in the region at present were buying steel from either Trichy or Chennai yards at high cost as a result of transportation.

The average consumption of steel in Coimbatore was 2 lakh tonnes per month and due to non-availability of SAIL yard, private companies were capitalising on the situation, Ramamurthy said.

 In view of this, the Centre should initiate steps to reopen the SAIL yard for the benefit of MSME sector..