CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ tadepalligudem l wednesday l october 07, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 11 Indian seafarers injured in Hormuz hit Rahul, other INDIA leaders hit street, briefly detained High drama as protest march to poll panel results in 9-hour standoff J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi THE Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday condemned the targeting of commercial shipping and seafarers after two separate attacks on merchant vessels in the Black Sea and Strait of Hormuz. Eleven Indian seafarers were injured in the latest incident when the Panama-flagged MT On Peace was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. Of its 19-member crew, 17 are Indian nationals. Among the 12 injured in the attack, 11 are Indians. The injured were evacuated with the assistance of Oma n i a u t h o r i t i e s a n d a re receiving treatment in Khasab. Condemning the attack, the MEA, in a statement, said: “The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and navigation and commerce through international waterways must be restored at the earliest.” In the Black Sea, the MV Royad Mammadov came under attack on Monday, with two foreign seafarers dying and some crew members sustaining injuries. The three Indians on the crew are safe. Romanian authorities rescued the injured. “India views these attacks on commercial shipping and seafarers with grave concern... We continue to call for dialogue and diplomacy to bring an end to the ongoing conflicts,” the MEA said. Physicist Francis Halzen, 82, at a conference in Bergamo, Italy. The Belgian scientist bagged the Physics Nobel for his work on neutrinos | AP | P9 p r ee t h a na i r & u dayan k i s h o r e @ New Delhi Rahul Gandhi waves the tricolour as he climbs atop barricades during INDIA bloc protest on Tuesday | Sayantan ghosh A nine-hour sit-in by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Opposition leaders at the ‘ ll India A Radio’ premises ended in forcible detention by Delhi Police on Tuesday night, after the INDIA bloc’s march to the Election Commission headquar ters turned into a prolonged standoff in the heart of the capital. The Gandhis and several other protesters were brought to the Kingsway Camp police lines after being taken into custody and were released around 10.15 pm. “To save the traitors of democracy the remnants of democracy , have been dragged through the mud. There will be a reckoning — not a single traitor will be spared,” said Rahul Gandhi. Rahul had earlier said the pro- ‘Represent the people’ Rahul Gandhi questioned why the poll panel was not meeting the nearly 300 Opposition MPs who had marched from Parliament to its office. “Why is the CEC not meeting us? Why are they stopping us? We represent the people,” Rahul said testers were prepared for a long haul until Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar meets them. In the evening, the ECI said it did not receive any request from any political party seeking a meeting with its officials. Delhi Police moved in to detain the protesters as several Opposition leaders including TMC, the Left parties, SP MPs and others joined the protest late evening. The dramatic standoff began with the march being stopped soon after it started from Parliament House around 10 am, following which the opposition MPs sat in front of Akashwani Bhavan just about 200 metres from the EC office. While most of the leaders including SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, and CPI(M) MP John Brittas, were detained and taken away in buses, Rahul and Priyanka pulled off a surprise by alighting from the bus and entering the All India Radio premises. The Gandhis and other leaders sat under a tree as police personnel asked them to vacate the premises. MPs from the Biju Janata Dal, which has not been part of the INDIA bloc, also joined the march. However, erstwhile INDIA bloc members DMK and AAP leaders kept away from the protest. GST Council to halve time taken for refunds D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi WITH GST Council meeting on October 8 set to take up major process refor ms, businesses would be able to get refunds within a maximum of 17 days. Refund claims are proposed to be acknowledged within 10 days, and payments would be made in seven days, sources said. At present, refunds take 21-35 days. “If a refund claim is not acknowledged in 10 days, it will be deemed to have been acknowledged,” a source said. According to the finance ministry from now , on, any tax changes will happen once a year and they will come into effect from 1 April. This is to ensure tax certainty . The GST Council meeting will consider a broad package of process and structural reforms, with the focus shifting from rate changes to easing compliance, improving input tax credit, simplifying refunds and widening the scope of services and ecommerce under the indirect tax regime. Another key reform is getting businesses registered without de- lays. According to sources, 61% taxpayers are granted registrations within three days without an officer, the efforts are to cover 100% of taxpayers. “A GST registration suspended for a procedural lapse would be restored automatically once the lapse is rectified,” said the source. Closing a business is also proposed to be made as simple as starting one. HC: Hyperscale project subject to verdict on PIL E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh High Court has issued interim orders regarding the construction of the proposed Vizag Hyperscale Data Centre Park at Adavivaram and Muddarapalem villages in Visakhapatnam Rural mandal, ruling that all ongoing construction activities will remain subject to the final outcome of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) pending before the court. A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan, clarified that Vizag Hyperscale Data Centre Park Limited may proceed with the construction work at its own risk, but emphasised that the company cannot claim any rights or equity in the future on the grounds of having made heavy financial P4 investments. E x p r e s s Re a d Rajnath launches 1st desi fleet support ship New Delhi: Surya, the Navy’s first indigenous fleet support ship, hit the water on Tuesday after years of delay. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the 44,000-tonne vessel at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) in Visakhapatnam, where he also laid the keel of the fifth ship | P7