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Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 21 (IANS) Patience of people in Kerala is apparently wearing thin as the two-day nationwide strike called by major trade unions continued Thursday. Barring a few private vehicles, the public transport remained off the road, while shops, business establishments and markets remained closed across the state. "Restrictions will yield no result. We have no problem with the protest but they should allow people to work," said a youth. "I have come all the way from London to close a business deal with an IT firm at the Technopark here. We had a few meetings lined up with government officials. But now we are stuck due to the ongoing strike," a businessman said, declining to be named. An IT professional, who was stopped by the protestors from entering the Technopark campus, told them that she was not interested in the strike. "I will decide which way to go, and I have decided to go to work," she said as police kept a close watch on the protestors. Police kept strikers and demonstrators off the IT parks in the capital city and at the Kochi Infopark. The attendance of employees in IT firms improved compared to Wednesday, the first day of the strike. At Kochi, cases were registered at the Panagnad police station against 20 people for raising ruckus at the Infopark campus since the strike began Wednesday. Of the 3,811 employees at the state secretariat, 1,513 reported for work. Banking operations remained paralysed in the state. The tourism industry reported a loss of Rs.10 crore in the past two days. All educational institutions remained closed Thursday. However, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centre in the state capital functioned normally. All eyes are now set on the Communist Party of India-Marxist to see if there will be any fresh protest after reports reached here that two party MPs -- M.P. Rajesh and T.N. Seema -- were roughed up by Delhi Police during a party march Thursday.
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