Despite opposition from prominent heritage conservation groups and architects, the plan to demolish the current structures at Pragati Maidan, Delhi’s permanent venue for consumer and industrial fairs, and build a massive convention centre instead seems to be in full swing. In January 2017, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved revamp.
Last Wednesday, the Heritage Conservation Committee told the Delhi High Court that it had rejected two petitions against the planned demolition, whose targets include the Hall of Nations, date and the Nehru Pavilion. The India Trade Promotion Organisation, which manages Pragati Maidan, also urged the court “not to interfere with the proposed demolition, saying that the Rs 2,500-crore project would be a good development for the city” and that the proposal had been approved “at the highest levels, including the Prime Minister’s Office”, according to a report in The Hindu.
The Hall of Nations which is “known in Europe as in United States as the first large-scale spatial structure in concrete in the world,” according to New York’s Museum of Modern Art, was “built in a time of great optimism for the future, both structures were seminal in forging a new, modern identity for Indian society and architecture. They are architectural masterpieces and important witnesses of an important chapter of Indian history.” The year was 1972.
An excerpt from India Modern, a documentary by filmmaker Manu Rewal, explains the significance of the Hall of Nations (video above).
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