Jamshedpur: The 15-minute tempest that tore through the steel city on April 1 has bared chinks in the safety armour of a ritzy address in Bistupur.

The 105kmph squall not just felled 250-odd trees and multiple hoardings across town, it also gouged out portions of a presumably frail faux façade of the P&M Hi-Tech City Centre Mall. That the disengaged boards, said to be made of gypsum, were blown away beyond sight and did not crash on a shopper from a height of 100ft is sheer luck.

Promoted by filmmaker Prakash Jha and partnered by local industrialist R.K. Agrawal, the mall opened in September last year on Outer Circle Road at South Park in Bistupur. It sprawls over 600,000sqft, making it one of the largest shopping malls in eastern India, and sees an average daily footfall of 2,500 with weekends being busier at 3,000 or more.

Somen Bhattacharya, a senior mall official, admitted that the gypsum boards couldn't withstand the gale force of the winds last Sunday.

"The G+9 building is earthquake resistant and boasts an advanced fire protection system. Unfortunately, the storm has exposed some gaps. We are adopting measures to ensure that there is no rerun," Bhattacharya said, but did not elaborate if the gypsum boards were being replaced by anything sturdier such as metal or plywood.

P.K. Mitra, a civil engineer with Akriti Architects, a leading real estate consultancy firm in the city, said gypsum boards were normally used for false ceiling. "It can be used for faux façade, but is not a usual practice. The boards were ripped out by the storm perhaps because they were not fixed properly," he said.

According to Mitra, using gypsum boards on exterior walls did not violate the National Building Code although the use of light but sturdy metals such as aluminum was more common in contemporary buildings.

The dismantled boards were of different dimensions - two were of 2ftx2ft and one was of 4ftx2ft. All were an inch thick. Structural engineers say a 4ftx12ft board with half-inch thickness could way over 80 pounds or roughly 36kg. The weight impact of the mall boards would be no less considering the velocity during a fall from 100ft.

Mall-goers are understandably concerned.

"I was under the impression that the exterior of the building is made of concrete. Having a façade made of boards that loosen with every storm can be dangerous," said Saurabh Singh, a 29-year-old automobile sales executive who frequents the mall on weekends.

Reema Singh, a resident of Bistupur, said the mall owners seemed to have compromised on safety to buffer costs. "It is a place where families go for shopping and to have fun. Safety should be a priority," she said.

Do you think the mall should replace gypsum with metal? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com