To augment milk supply to Delhi from currently 30,000 litres to 2 lakh litres; open Verka booths across national capital.
Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited, popularly known as Milkfed, has inked an agreement to launch its Verka brand of milk and milk products in Delhi, said chief minister Bhagwant Mann, who was in Ludhiana to inaugurate the newly built Verka milk processing and butter plant on Wednesday.
Mann said that Milkfed — the leading cooperative of the state — will augment the milk supply to Delhi from currently 30,000 litres to 2 lakh litres, thereby benefitting the farmers and milk producers of the state. “This is a revolutionary step aimed at supplementing the income of the farmers to bail them out from the agrarian crisis,” he said.
“According to the agreement, Verka will open new outlets at every nook and corner of Delhi to supply milk and milk products in the national capital. The sole aim of the government is to extend maximum support and best prices to the dairy farmers of Punjab by following the true essence of cooperation,” he added.
The newly launched plant, which was inaugurated on the Ferozepur, has been constructed at a cost of ₹105 crore. Mann said the plant’s milk processing capacity is 9 lakh litres daily with 10 metric tonne butter handling capacity.
The CM said that farmer-friendly schemes should be implemented so as to boost the dairying business amongst the youth to make them financially independent and self-reliant. Mann also said that he has asked Milkfed to further launch an aggressive marketing campaign to capture a sizable chunk of consumer market not only in the state but across the country and even abroad. He said this leading state cooperative has a perceptible presence in the domestic market as Verka is a household name in the region.
The CM said that Verka products like ghee, milk, butter, lassi, kheer, curd, ice-cream, sweets have already created a niche for themselves in the nationwide market which could further be widened with concerted efforts.
CM asks farmers to shun stubble burning
He exhorted the farmers to refrain from burning paddy straw as it poses a serious threat to human life by environmental pollution. He said that in a step aimed at wiping out the menace of paddy straw burning from the state, India’s largest Bio Energy plant has been constructed in Sangrur at a cost of ₹230 crore over 20 acres.
Mann said this is largest biofuel (Biomethane/ Bio-CNG) production units in India with 33 TPD (tons per day) adding that the annual straw consumption in this unit will be1.30 lakh ton adding that it will help in solving the vex problem of paddy straw burning.
