What happened
Salem Municipal Corporation's council meeting turned chaotic on July 29 after AIADMK councillors staged a dharna inside the hall against a government order to hand drinking water distribution to private operators. The issue is exactly the kind of civic reform that sounds clean in a file and immediately becomes emotional once the file reaches a tap. For residents, the question is who controls the water; for the council, the answer was apparently to convert the meeting room into a live demonstration of public pressure management.