New Delhi: For 44 years, this striking edifice of geometric patterns has stood as the emblem of the capital's trade exhibition grounds. The Hall of Nations' criss-crossing bars that make up a contemporary "jali" arising to a truncated pyramid have been, for a long time, the symbol of a modernising India. It even figures among a list of 62 buildings that have been identified as worthy of conservation. But the exhibition hall seems to have outlived its aesthetics, at least to the India Trade Promotion Organisation that runs Pragati Maidan. The agency plans to raze it when it redevelops the trade fair complex. Desperate architects and heritage lovers, led by Intach, are now campaigning to save the iconic building from disappearing forever.

Intach has written to both the Heritage Conservation Committee and Delhi Urban Arts Commission arguing that even modern buildings have to be tagged as heritage. It has explained how the heritage panel itself had extended the usual norm of 100 years for a building to earn heritage status to include modern constructions like Rashtrapati Bhawan and the capital complex for protection. "The heritage value of buildings is not solely dependent on its antiquity or limited to a specific period. It could also be defined on their iconic or associated stature in the contemporary built environment," Intach said in its report.

Architects argue that like other ancient heritage buildings, modern architecture must also be valued by society so that future generations are acquainted with what is contemporary today.

"This was a period of architectural history when India/Delhi was forging a 'modern' identity and many buildings possess the same valuable characteristics of heritage that defined the historic buildings protected earlier. Some of these buildings are threatened with demolition to pave way for 'world class' facilities. There is no reason why the imperative to conserve the classic of the past cannot coexist with the proposed 'world class' facilities," said an architect.

INTACH's list of modern architectural marvels in Delhi include 62 buildings, among them India International Centre, Vikas Minar, Tara Apartments (designed by the late Charles Correa), Nehru Memorial Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Hall of Nations at Pragati Maidan, Tibet House and the Baha'i Lotus Temple.

Having ascertained from INTACH the criteria adopted to define the 62 buildings as heritage in June 2014, the Heritage Conservation Committee has recently requested North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations of Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Council to take necessary action in notifying these buildings for conservation.

The effort to save The Hall of Nations from demolition has picked up pace. A petition signed by over 3,000 architects from India and abroad has been sent to the PM.