The two-day general strike in the capital took a violent turn today when a group of protesters pelted stones at factories and offices in an industrial area in south Delhi, damaging around 20 buildings.

The trouble was reported from Okhla Industrial Area when the protesting workers took out a march in the area. The violence came a day after violence rocked industrial area in nearby Noida.

There were no reports of any injuries to anyone in today's incident but six trouble-makers were detained, a senior police official said.

Striking workers shouted slogans against the government's economic policies and allegedly pelted stones at the buildings. According to eye-witnesses, the establishments were closed and only guards and some people were present at these establishments.

Commuters continued to face hardships as majority of auto-rickshaws and taxis stayed off the road in support of the two-day nationwide strike called by 11 trade unions.

Students and office goers were the hardest hit as auto- rickshaw and taxi drivers either refused to go or overcharged.

Various industrial units and banks either remained closed or witnessed thin attendance while markets and commercial areas remained open.

Yesterday, the strike had evoked a mixed response. Five major auto-rickshaw and taxi unions in the city have joined the strike to demand a hike in auto and taxi fares.

Long queues were seen at metro stations. DTC services were near normal though a section of the employees extended support to the strike.

"It was difficult to travel in Metro as trains were jam-packed. Passengers even struggled to get inside the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station because of heavy rush," said Dipali, who travelled from Connaught Place to Delhi University.

The DTC has deployed over 5,000 buses to ferry passengers. Another 3,000 private buses including 1,870 mini buses, 283 Metro feeder buses and around 800 contract carriage buses were also pressed into service.

"I had wait to for a bus for around one hour as there were no taxis and auto-rickshaws available," said Ranjit Jha, a resident of Moti Bagh, who works at a government office in Central secretariat.

Delhi government has cancelled leave of all DTC employees and asked senior officials of the corporation to be at bus depots from early morning to ensure smooth operation of DTC bus service.

Transport Minister Ramkant Goswami claimed the strike did not have any impact in the city and public transport was functioning smoothly.

He said a total of 5,141 DTC buses were pressed into service today while 5117 buses were deployed yesterday.

"The services remained normal except some minor incidents," he said.