Ex-chairman of TSREDCO Y Satish Reddy counters Revanth Reddy, says agreement signed in 2015 only for 2015-16

Point-by-point rebuttal by former TSREDCO chairman Y Satish Reddy to the comments made by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on irrigation projects

Let's see what actually is there in the documents that the Chief Minister has chosen to create:

1. Agreement on water distribution in 2015

In this agreement, it was decided that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh would share Krishna water in a ratio of 299 TMC and 512 TMC of water for the year 2015-16 only. These are the sentences in the last paragraph number 18 of that document which reads, "The Entire Agreements agreed for the current year would be without any prejudice to the stand of both the states before any forum."

The Telangana Government had already requested the Centre to set up a tribunal for the redistribution of Krishna waters under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. So this temporary agreement, which is only for one year, was included suggesting that the paragraph should not have any effect on our claims in the courts.

As the Kalvakurti, Nettempadu, Bhima, Koil Sagar projects, started by the Congress Government, were not completed by then, a share of 299 TMC was temporarily agreed upon for one year.

2. Second Apex Council: Minutes of the meeting in 2016

The first apex council meeting decided to extend the 2015 agreement for another year as the Krishna basin projects were not completed even by 2016.

By 2017-18, the projects were partially completed and reached the stage of providing water to Ayacut. So, Krishna water consumption by Telangana increased. That is why a letter was written to the Centre to distribute Telangana water in 50:50 ratio from 2018. This issue was raised in the board meetings and other letters.

The board ignored the arguments of Telangana and bowed to the pressure of Andhra Pradesh and took decisions by sticking to the old ratio. Telangana had written dozens of letters to the board and the Centre opposing those decisions.

3. 16th Board: Minutes of the meeting

Regarding handing over of projects, Telangana also informed the conditions for handing over while agreeing in principle to hand over only common projects and not all the projects mentioned by the gazette. The BRS Government had also informed the Centre in its letter dated 27.1.24. It is strange that the Congress is accusing the previous Government of agreeing to hand over the projects on the terms that were given.

4. 17th Board: Minutes of the meeting

In this meeting too, there was a demand by the State to report to the Apex Council on the issue of handover, stating that nothing could be agreed upon except the ratio of 50:50, and that the board should not take a decision unilaterally. These sentences, which were recorded in the minutes, were hidden by Revanth Reddy.

5. The Chief Minister said that the previous Government had agreed to continue with the old ratio until the tribunal's verdict. No document was shown by Revanth Reddy to prove this statement. This is nothing but mudslinging the previous Government.

6. Budget Demand Book 2023-24

Another proof that Revanth Reddy failed to show if the BRS Government had agreed for the delivery of projects is the Budget Demand Book 2023-24. In page 114 it was mentioned that there was a budget for paying seed money to the KRMB. Not even a single rupee of the seed money was paid without accepting the preconditions imposed by the BRS Government for delivery.

If there is a need to pay, that item should be in the budget. So not a single rupee has been paid to the boards as seed money. The handover process was not even completed. The BRS never compromised on its terms on the issue of handing over the projects.

7. The Rayalaseema lift scheme was opposed by the BRS Government from the beginning. There are many letters to prove this. GO 203 was issued in the month of May 2020.

“We protested the announcement made by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Andhra Assembly in December 2019 on this project. Because of our letters to the Central Government, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shikhawat himself wrote to the Andhra Chief Minister and issued orders to stop the Rayalaseema lift work immediately,” Satish said.

Before that, a private person filed a case with the NGT that the Rayalaseema lift work could not be carried out without environmental clearance. The Telangana government impleaded in that case too and got a stay order on the project. “Our Government has been fighting relentlessly on the Rayalaseema LI project. However, it is not appropriate for a person in the chair of the Chief Minister, to make baseless allegations that Jagan Mohan Reddy is in collusion with KCR in this matter,” Satish Reddy said.

8. "It is a mockery of history to say that we (BRS)supported the decision taken by the YS Rajasekhar Reddy Government while hiding the fact that our Ministers resigned from the Cabinet expressing protest against the Pothireddypadu expansion. If we had not resigned against the decision of the Cabinet on that day, the Ministers would have continued in the Cabinet," Satish added.