The local fund audit department has flagged serious lapses in Brahmapuram biomining project in the Kochi corporation's audit report for 2023-24. In addition to financial loss to the civic body due to failure in negotiation, the audit report has cited violation of terms and conditions in the deposit of inert materials, which poses grave environmental and health hazards. The department has held Kochi corporation and the State Pollution Control Board accountable for the lapses. 

As per the agreement, the inert waste materials shall be used for soil-filling within the project site only if it is free of contaminants. The audit report noted that the low-lying areas in Brahmapuram waste-management facility were filled with 120071.71 tons of materials. Though conditions mandate that the materials can be filled only with the consent of the Kochi corporation, file scrutiny by the audit wing showed that the corporation never issued clearance for deposit of materials. The report shows that land-filling was done in violation of the Waste Management Rules 2016. It has conditions which say that the land-fill site shall be 100 m away from the river and it shall not be permitted within the floodplains as recorded for the past 100 years. The audit notes that the place had witnessed protests in the past after waste water seeped into the water body. 

The audit report has cited that although there was high presence of heavy metals in the inert materials as per the lab reports, it was used for land-filling which was done in violation of the agreement. The waste management site lies close to the Chithrapuzha river which is used for many purposes by the neighbouring residents. Inert materials with a high presence of lead were used for land-filling close to this water body. " Depositing inert materials with dangerous levels of lead which pose threat to the public health without the consent of Kochi corporation is really serious. It is a violation of the agreement and the provisions of the The Water (Prevention And Control Of Pollution) Act 1974," the audit report noted. Exposure to lead can affect multiple body systems and is particularly harmful to young children and women of child-bearing age, according to the World Health Organization. 

The audit sought an explanation from the Kochi corporation on why the company was allowed to continue bio-mining despite violating agreement conditions. The corporation responded by providing a technical audit report from the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). The audit, however, noted that NEERI cannot recommend depositing coarse fraction materials at the project site, which is within 100 m of the water body. The response also lacked a convincing explanation to prove that the deposited materials were free from contaminants. 

The audit report has also revealed that the corporation incurred an additional expense of ₹9.48 crore since it failed to negotiate properly with the company and that transporting charge was collected from the corporation although the waste was deposited in the site itself. "Considering how much additional sum, corporation has to shell out, the matter needs immediate intervention," the audit report pointed out.