*Verka will open 625 new booths in state: Vijay Kumar Janjua*

*Chief Secretary emphasizes on expansion of Milkfed to strengthen cooperative movement*

*Approves to open a permanent office in NCR to expand Verka products*

*Decision to increase the number of mobile vans to check adulteration of milk in state*

Chandigarh, December 6:

On the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to strengthen the government institutions and give boost to the cooperative movement, the Punjab Government has prepared a plan for the expansion of Milkfed. In a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua, approval was given to open 625 new milk booths in the state and to open a permanent office in NCR to expand the scope of Verka products.

Chief Secretary Mr. Janjua said that Cooperative institutions such as Milkfed are directly connected with the farmers, which procure milk from the farmers at a good price and manufacture high quality products and sell them to the customers at reasonable prices.

In view of the increasing demand for Verka products, there is a plan to open a total of 1000 new booths in Punjab, of which 625 booths were approved in the first phase today. These places come under various government departments of the state for which all the administrative secretaries have been asked to allot booths. With this, while youth will get employment, people will get Verka products at door step. He asked the Milkfed officials to identify places where there is high footfall and high demand for opening booths in the second phase. Apart from this, it was also asked to advertise Verka products aggressively.

In order to expand the scope of Milkfed in the NCR (New Delhi-Gurgaon-Noida), the Chief Secretary approved the opening of a new office in New Delhi, for which he asked the Secretary PWD to identify sites at Nabha House. Mr. Janjua said that in the year 2021-22, 19.17 lakh liters of milk was procured per day (LLPD) and 11.01 lakh liters of packed liquid milk was sold per day. Milkfed has set a target of purchasing 29 LLPD and selling 18.50 LLPD of packed liquid milk by the next five years (2026-27).

It was decided to increase the number of checking mobile vans to prevent adulteration of milk and milk products in the state so that the campaign against adulteration can be strengthened at the ground level. Similarly, it was considered to authorize veterinary officers to draw samples of Milk, Milk Products and other food stuff as per the provisions of FSSAI act.

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Cooperation Anurag Agarwal, Secretary PWD Neel Kanth Awadh, MD Milkfed Amit Dhaka, General Managers Harminder Singh Sandhu, Renu Dhar and Sanjeev Sharma.

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