Durga Puja sets stage for community outreach by businesses in West Bengal

In West Bengal, which lives from Durga Puja to Durga Puja in an annual calendar that revolves around the festivities, enterprises vie to go beyond posters and banners to participate with art installations and social impact. | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

West Bengal’s famous Durga Puja pandals are increasingly turning into sites for businesses to engage in community outreach. From idols made of recycled products to themes around environmental issues or health check-ups in the middle of pandal hopping, the forays are as diverse as the brands making them.

At Tridhara Sammilani, artist Chandra Nath Saha, in collaboration with Linc Limited’s Pentonic, has created a Durga idol with about 13,000 pens and an equal number of recycled plastic refills, which will be reused after the pujas in an eco-friendly effort. “We wanted to take something as familiar as a pen and give people a reason to see it differently,” Deepak Jalan, managing director, Linc Ltd. said. 

The Techno India Group’s seven-feet-high Durga idol, made from rusted iron pipes and chains, discarded machine parts, old metal components, and traditional brass puja utensils, was brought to life by art teachers and students. Titled ‘Sustainable Shakti’, it focuses on responsible consumption. “The essence of tradition lies not only in preserving what we have inherited, but also in evolving it responsibly for the future,” Manoshi Roychowdhury, co-chairperson, Techno India Group, said.