With no sign of a settlement, functioning of government offices and schools in Kerala remained paralysed as the strike by employees and teachers entered the third day on Friday. Except for top civil servants, casual hands and personal staff of ministers turning up for work, offices presented a deserted look. Civic offices and universities were also hit by the strike, reports said. The government had said that there was no question of restoring the curtailed benefits of the employees until the cash-strapped state pulled through its present financial crisis. No violence was reported from anywhere in the state, police said.
The strike has been called by unions, loyal to ruling UDF as well as opposition LDF, to press restoration of some of the perks curtailed by the A K Antony government as part of its cost-cutting exercise. Bureau Report