Pragati Maidan - -NA- 6.52

Pragati Maidan was a venue for large exhibitions and conventions in New Delhi. It is having an area of nearly 150 acres Recurring eventsThis complex houses five permanent exhibitions which include the Nehru Pavalion, Atomic Energy and Defense Pavilion. Some of the events held in Pragati Maidan are the India International Trade Fair, World Book Fair and the Auto Expo.The two-week-long India International Trade Fair (IITF) begins here each year on November 14. In 1999, during the fair, two new air-conditioned halls 12 and 13 on an area of 9,000 sq. m. were opened to public, when some 5,200 enterprises, over 70 companies from 14 countries set up shop. The 2003 IITF saw 25 lakh visitors to Pragati Maidan. Today, Northern Railways runs special trains to Pragati Maidan during the annual fair, as does the Delhi Metro, which handled an average daily ridership of 50,000 commuters during the 2008 fair.At a corner of Pragati Maidan, on Mathura Road lies "Matka Peer" or the dargah shrine of Hazrat Sheikh Abubakr Tusi Qalandari, a mystic who came to Delhi from Iran, around the 1260s CE. Further down on Bhairon road, lies the National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum and further down stands the National Science Centre. The Pragati Maidan Delhi Metro station which is the largest station on the section built over an area of 6,800 square metres, opened in November 2006, during the ongoing India International Trade Fair, and on the eight day, over 2 lakh passenger used the facility.