Villagers’ protest against shifting of Anakapalle municipality’s garbage dumping yard took a serious turn on Wednesday afternoon when 20 villagers and others supporting them were taken into custody at Achayyapeta under Sundarayyapeta Panchayat, a few kilometres from Anakapalle.

Even as the police took the men into custody, women of the village continued their dharna and the municipality’s tractor was not allowed to proceed. The villagers intensified their protest from Tuesday when they gheraoed Municipal Commissioner S. Muralidhara Rao and stopped the municipal vehicles from entering the area marked for the dumping yard. The protest continued on Wednesday and the police took away 20 villagers.