Secretariat comes to a standstill; Only 496 out of 4,600 employees attended office

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Although the opposition organisations, the UDF-backed Secretariat Action Council and the BJP-backed NGO Sangh, abstained from the general strike, only 496 from a total of 4,600 employees attended the office on Thursday. The average daily attendance is 3,290. The attendance level on the strike day is 10.6 per cent. Secretariat Action Council convener MS Irshad accused the government of not providing any assistance despite many trying their best to attend work. The 'dies-non' order was issued at the last minute.

Irshad said that the order was issued just 51 minutes before the strike began. Passengers were stranded due to a lack of transport facilities. KSRTC did not operate services in most districts. There was no auto taxi service either. Even those who arrived from other states at the railway station were stranded.