DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH In a bid to strengthen the co-operative sector, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday directed state-run Milkfed to set up state-of-art procurement infrastructure in villages for collecting and supplying best quality milk. While chairing a review meeting of Milkfed here, the Chief Minister asserted that upgradation of the procurement infrastructure is the need of hour to ensure best quality of milk is collected from villages and then is supplied to consumers after processing. Mann envisioned that Milkfed will usher brand Verka to new horizons, where sole mantra shall be inclusive growth of all. He emphasised that Milkfed must ensure that it covers all potential villages falling in the state and procure the maximum quantity of raw milk from there. The Chief Minister said the sole aim of his government is to extend maximum support and best prices to the dairy farmers of Punjab by following the true essence of cooperation. He also asserted that farmer-friendly schemes should be implemented so as to boost the dairying business amongst the youth so as to make them financially independent and self reliant. Mann also batted for setting in place modern technological interventions so as to ensure that the entire system remains transparent and user friendly. The Chief Minister also directed Milkfed to further launch an aggressive marketing campaign to capture sizeable chunk of consumer market not only in the state but across the country and even abroad. Mann said that Verka products like ghee, milk, butter, lassi, kheer, curd, ice cream, sweets and others have already created a niche for themselves in the nationwide market which could further be widened with concerted efforts. The Chief Minister also asked Milkfed to double its turnover from Rs 4,869 crore in 2021-2022 to Rs 10,000 crore by 2026-2027. (editor@dailyworld.in)