Conservation every Indian's responsibility: Javed Akhtar

Monuments need special care and the authorities as well as the people should ensure their upkeep, lyricist and social activist Javed Akhtar said.

Monuments need special care and the authorities as well as the people should ensure their upkeep, lyricist and social activist Javed Akhtar said on Wednesday.

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"Our architectural heritage is of immense importance and we should all take care of its conservation. It's a shared responsibility of all the citizens of India," Akhtar told reporters.

He was in the city to release a book Jama Masjid - Call of the Soul.

Akhtar called the Jama Masjid an "epic monument and a silent spectator to many developments in India in the last four centuries".

"This is the place where all the political parties equivocally decided to fight against the British rule to achieve independence," Akhtar said.

Mushirul Hassan, vice chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia University, said: "The Jama Masjid symbolises the high point in Mughal architecture. This splendid structure has attracted millions and will continue to be an integral part of our common religious and cultural inheritance."

Jama Masjid - Call of the Soul has been written by N.L. Batra, a former engineer of the Archaeological Survey of India, the body that maintains monuments in the country.

It's an outcome of 10 years of research. The book documents the architectural brilliance of the mosque and recommends how it can be better conserved.