Verka gets a face: Mann unveils ‘Veera’ mascot

Dairy brand Verka on Wednesday got a face as Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann unveiled a mascot —“Veera” — for it.

The mascot depicts a young Sikh boy, sporting a blue “patka” with a T-shirt, extending greetings with folded hands.

An official cited Amul’s popular mascot — Amul Girl — when asked about the inspiration behind the launch of “Veera”, which means “brother” in English.

The official said this will help them popularise their products and give a boost to sales across the country.

The Chief Minister also laid the stone for a unit in the Verka milk plant here for the production of fermented foods, including flavoured milk and curd, as part of the Markfed-run company’s growth strategy.The unit will be set up at a cost of Rs 135 crore.

Verka, a flagship brand of Milkfed, derives its name from Verka, a suburb of Amritsar where a milk plant is already operational.

The Chief Minister said Verka is being launched on e-commerce platforms so that its products could be available across the country.

He said the expasion plan will pave the way for fresh recruitment of 1,200 employees as Milkfed is launching exciting new products, including rabri and kaju-badam milk.

The government will rope in ace players from the state to be brand ambassadors of Verka so that it could spread its wings across the globe, he said, adding that Milkfed is in the process of widening its reach by launching new milk products in Delhi-National Capital Region.

The Chief Minister said his government had allocated Rs 100 crore in its Budget to pay higher procurement prices to help dairy farmers.

“This project will not only boost Milkfed’s production capabilities but also contribute to the growth of the dairy industry in the region besides providing remunerative prices to dairy farmers,” he said. Milkfed, established in 1973 to promote dairy farming in Punjab and provide a remunerative market to milk producers, offers technical support to improve milk procurement and ensure effective marketing of dairy products.

Currently, Milkfed is the seventh largest milk cooperative of India with a turnover of over Rs 6,000 crore.

Punjab