Farmers associations have urged the State government to drop the idea of establishing an industrial estate by acquiring over 2,200 acres of farmland in Halakurki village of Bagalkot district.

Leaders of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Bharatiya Krishik Samaj submitted a memorandum to the government in Bagalkot on Monday asking it to drop the land acquisition proceedings. They said that they cannot afford to lose fertile farmland that is their only source of livelihood.

Farmers leader Basavaraj Patil told reporters that the process started a few years ago and it is going ahead with it despite their opposition. “We urged Siddaramaiah who was then fighting the Assembly polls from Badami and he promised to cancel the land acquisition process when his party came to power. But he is yet to take that decision,” he said.

“In the first phase, we led a protest against the BJP government. We will start the second phase of protest if the Congress government does not fulfil our demands,” he said.