Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS): A proposal was mooted on Friday evening to name a stretch of land at Kolkata's iconic party hub since pre- independence era, Park Street, after deceased industrialist and founder of Apeejay Surrendra Group, Jit Paul.

Jit Paul is widely believed to be the man who defined Park Street as much as the street defined him and his brother and former chairman of the group, Late Surrendra Paul.

The proposal was mooted at the release of the book Park Street Theke Phire Dekha (Looking back from Park Street), authored by Pulak Kumar Chakraborti, that details the history of Park Street and Jit Paul's association with the street. The book, the cover for which was done by renowned painter, Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharjee was launched on Friday evening at iconic Oxford Bookstores, also in Park Street, by the current chairman of Apeejay Surrendra Group, Karan Paul, who is the son of Surrendra Paul and nephew of Jit Paul.

The West Bengal Agriculture and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay was the chief guest on the occasion.

During the event, the author issued an appeal to the state administration to consider naming the stretch of land on Park Street encompassing Apeejay House and The Park Hotel as "Paul Square" or "Jit Paul Surrendra Paul Square". A proposal to rename a street in Alipore as "Jit Paul Surrendra Paul Sarani" was also put forward on the occasion.

Commenting about the book, Karan Paul said that the author had done an admirable job of chronicling the history of Park Street and beautifully written about his uncle's life and times. "As he mentions in the book, our uncle and our father's vision had in many ways changed the landscape of Park Street. We as a family are honoured to have been able to contribute significantly to making Park Street the city's go-to destination. The author has done the most admirable job of chronicling the history of Park Street and beautifully written about his life and times. I am sure that it will serve as an important historical document for future generations," he added.

The minister recollected his memories with Jit Paul. "I feel that this book should go to the libraries so that people can learn about the contribution of this family and how a business can be built from scratch and go on to contribute to the growth of the region," he added.