Kolkata, September 17, 2026: BIG FM’s award-winning festive initiative, BIG Green Durga, is back in 2026 with a renewed focus on sustainability, collective participation and Bengal’s timeless symbol of nourishment and abundance — Shashya, or food grain. This year, BIG FM, in association with Bhadreswar Group, presents ‘Shashya-er Shakti – The Power of Food Grain’, bringing together devotion and environmental consciousness.
Launched in 2022, BIG Green Durga has explored innovative and sustainable ways of reimagining Maa Durga. Over the years, the initiative has featured idols made from paper pulp, jute and discarded single-use plastic, while last year saw the creation of a 3D holographic Durga.
In 2026, the initiative takes an organic and participatory approach with a Maa Durga idol crafted using paddy grains, symbolising the power and importance of food grain in everyday life.
At the centre of this year’s campaign is ‘Dhannyo Kalash’, an initiative inviting people across Kolkata to contribute one fistful of rice towards Maa Durga’s Puja. The Dhannyo Kalash will travel across communities, residential welfare associations and neighbourhoods before reaching the City Centre 1 Kund area during the five days of Puja, encouraging citizens to become part of a collective offering.
Bhadreswar Group will multiply the collected grain manifold and transform the contribution into Maha Bhog, which will subsequently be distributed among orphanages and old-age homes. The collected rice will also form an integral part of an eco-conscious Dhannyo Kalash installation, designed around the natural visual language of rice, paddy and straw.
Another key experiential element of BIG Green Durga 2026 is ‘Cycle of Shakti’, which highlights the idea that Shakti grows when it is shared. Through an interactive experience, devotees will become active participants in Maa Durga’s awakening, reinforcing the message that individual energy can become a collective force for positive change.
The campaign will also take sustainability directly into Kolkata’s communities through extensive engagement activities. The initiative will include 15 RWA/apartment engagements, 15 college activations and 15 Green Canter/Para engagements, encouraging citizens and young people to participate in sustainable festive celebrations.
The campaign will culminate at the City Centre 1 Kund area, where visitors will experience the Shashya-er Shakti Maa Durga idol as an open-air installation surrounded by the visual ambience of Bengal’s paddy fields. The installation will bring together tradition, sustainability and collective participation, presenting devotion as a shared act of environmental and social responsibility.
Speaking about the fifth season, Ashit Kukian, CEO, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, said, “Sustainability is not a responsibility that belongs to a few but it is a Shakti that lives within each one of us. BIG Green Durga is about turning that Shakti into action, taking the movement from awareness to every RWA, para, college and marketplace. When communities come together and make conscious choices every day, small actions become a powerful collective force for change. Let us use our Shakti to protect our planet, transform our communities and make sustainability a way of life.”
Actress Swastika Dutta has also joined the initiative and expressed her excitement about being associated with BIG Green Durga. Supporting the campaign’s sustainability message, she will help amplify the initiative of Bhadreswar Group and BIG FM and encourage people to come together for a more sustainable celebration of Durga Puja.
With ‘Shashya-er Shakti – The Power of Food Grain’, BIG Green Durga 2026 seeks to demonstrate that sustainability can become an integral part of festive celebrations, where every fistful of rice, every offering and every collective action contributes to a larger message of responsibility and shared Shakti.
