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| + | ====== LPG Subsidy Stopped? RTI to the Oil Marketing Company ====== | ||
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| + | {{: | ||
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| + | <WRAP center round info 95%> | ||
| + | **Quick Reply:** LPG subsidy under PAHAL stopped in 2026? File RTI to the OMC Area Office for refill UTRs, Aadhaar seeding, biometric-auth pause log and income-limit record. | ||
| + | </ | ||
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| + | <WRAP info> | ||
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| + | ===== The story most citizens recognise ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Sunita V. lives in a mofussil town in Maharashtra and holds a 14.2 kg domestic LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). Her Aadhaar-seeded bank account had been receiving the Rs.300 subsidy like clockwork for every refill through 2025. In January 2026 she booked a cylinder, paid roughly Rs.900 to the delivery man, and within a week the familiar Rs.300 landed in her account. So did the second refill in March. | ||
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| + | Then came the third refill, delivered mid-May 2026. The cylinder arrived, she paid the full amount, but the subsidy never came. She waited a week, then two. The distributor on the phone said, " | ||
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| + | By July 2026 her fourth refill also carried no subsidy. The PAHAL scheme — formally **Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh**, the world' | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== What PAHAL and the OMCs actually are ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | PAHAL, also called DBTL (Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG), was launched in 2015 as a governance reform to curb leakage in the subsidised cooking gas system. Instead of the distributor deducting the subsidy at the doorstep, the consumer pays the market price and the subsidy is credited directly to the bank account linked to the LPG connection through Aadhaar or an LPG-ID seeding. The scheme is administered by the **Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG)**, Government of India, through three public-sector Oil Marketing Companies: | ||
| + | |||
| + | - **Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL)** — the Indane brand | ||
| + | - **Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL)** — the Bharatgas brand | ||
| + | - **Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)** — the HP Gas brand | ||
| + | |||
| + | All three are majority-owned by the Central Government and are therefore **" | ||
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| + | The targeted Ujjwala wing of the scheme, PMUY, had **10.58 crore connections** as of 2026. Under the subsidy structure prevailing in 2026, PMUY beneficiaries receive a **Rs.300 per cylinder subsidy on the first 4 refills each year**, after the Centre reduced the entitlement from 9 refills to 4 in June 2026 citing the global price surge. The effective cost to a Ujjwala household is roughly Rs.642 per cylinder against a Delhi market price of about Rs.1,600. Non-Ujjwala general consumers pay around Rs.942, with an implicit subsidy of about Rs.700 absorbed by the OMCs and the exchequer. The total LPG subsidy burden for FY26 was estimated at roughly Rs.60,000 crore, up from Rs.41,338 crore the year before. | ||
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| + | <WRAP tip> | ||
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| + | ===== How the subsidy flow works — so you know what to ask for ===== | ||
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| + | To ask a sharp question you need to know how the money moves. The chain, for every subsidised refill, is: | ||
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| + | - **Booking** — you book through the OMC app, SMS, IVRS or the MyLPG.in portal. A refill request is generated against your 17-digit LPG-ID. | ||
| + | - **Delivery** — the distributor delivers the cylinder and enters a " | ||
| + | - **DBT file generation** — the OMC's PAHAL system batches the day's deliveries into a DBT file, pairing each LPG-ID with its seeded bank account and Aadhaar number. | ||
| + | - **Subsidy credit** — the subsidy amount (Rs.300 for Ujjwala, or the applicable general-consumer subsidy) is transferred to your bank through NPCI's Aadhaar Payment Bridge or account-credit route, and a **UTR (Unique Transaction Reference)** is generated against your refill. | ||
| + | - **SMS** — on success, the OMC sends an SMS with the subsidy amount and reference. On failure, the credit is held back and the record is flagged. | ||
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| + | The UTR is the single most important artefact in your file. It proves the subsidy either left the OMC (and the failure is at the bank) or never left (and the failure is at the OMC — typically because of seeding, biometric-authentication or income-limit reasons). When the distributor says " | ||
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| + | ===== The 2026 update you must know about ===== | ||
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| + | Two changes in 2026 explain almost every "my subsidy suddenly stopped" | ||
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| + | **1. Biometric Aadhaar Authentication (BAA) deadline — 30 June 2026.** A Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas communication dated **18 May 2026** directed IOCL, BPCL and HPCL to ensure that every consumer who had never completed biometric Aadhaar authentication since getting their connection must finish it by **30 June 2026**. Consumers who miss the deadline have their PAHAL/DBTL subsidy and the targeted Ujjwala subsidy **kept in abeyance** — no subsidy is paid on refills taken after the deadline until the biometric authentication is completed. Crucially, the subsidy is restored **only prospectively** on completion; the arrears for the gap period are not paid. The refill supply itself must not be stopped — only the subsidy pauses. States and UTs that give their own additional LPG subsidies were also asked to pause their top-ups for the same consumers. The eKYC can be done from home, free, through **IndianOil ONE** or **AadhaarFaceRD** (Indane), **Hello BPCL** (Bharatgas), | ||
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| + | **2. Income-limit exclusion enforced again from 2025-26.** A MoPNG/PIB notification dated **28 December 2015** had ruled that the LPG subsidy would not be available to a consumer (or their spouse) whose taxable income exceeded **Rs.10 lakh** in the previous financial year, computed under the Income Tax Act, 1961. From 2025-26 the OMCs have begun cross-referencing the LPG subscriber database with the Income Tax Department' | ||
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| + | These two developments are the first things your RTI should probe. If your subsidy paused after July 2026, biometric authentication is the most likely cause. If it paused with an SMS about income, the income-limit cross-match is the cause. Knowing which one applies to you sharpens the questions you ask. | ||
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| + | ===== Step-by-step: | ||
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| + | You will normally file **one application**, | ||
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| + | **Step 1 — Identify your OMC and the correct PIO.** Look at your LPG booklet or the SMS you receive on booking. The brand tells you the OMC: Indane = IOCL, Bharatgas = BPCL, HP Gas = HPCL. The Area Office covering your distributor is the operational custodian. Address the application to the **Central Public Information Officer, [OMC Name] — [Area Office], [City]**. The OMC's head office can also be used for policy questions. | ||
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| + | **Step 2 — Gather your identifiers.** Note your **17-digit LPG-ID**, your **distributor code** (printed on the booklet and every cash memo), your **consumer number**, the **last 4 digits of the seeded bank account**, and the **refill dates and cash-memo numbers** for which subsidy is missing. You do not need to write your full Aadhaar number — only the seeding status is relevant, and writing the full number is both unnecessary and a privacy mistake. | ||
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| + | **Step 3 — Prepare your questions.** Ask for dated records, not " | ||
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| + | - " | ||
| + | - " | ||
| + | - "State whether biometric Aadhaar authentication (BAA) was pending for my LPG-ID as on 30 June 2026; if so, furnish the exact date from which my subsidy was kept in abeyance under the MoPNG communication dated 18 May 2026, and whether arrears for the gap period are marked lapsed or held." | ||
| + | - "If BAA has since been completed, furnish the date of completion and the refill number from which subsidy was restored prospectively." | ||
| + | - "If subsidy was withheld under the Rs.10 lakh taxable-income exclusion, furnish the PAN/data source used, the date of the 7-day SMS dispute notice sent to me, and the notification number relied upon." | ||
| + | - " | ||
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| + | **Step 4 — Pay the fee and submit.** The fee is **Rs.10** per application under the Central RTI Rules, payable by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, or cash against a receipt. You can also file online through the **Central RTI portal (rtionline.gov.in)** and pay by debit or credit card — select the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and route to the OMC. BPL applicants are exempt from the fee on producing a BPL certificate. Keep proof of submission: a stamped receiving copy, the registered-post acknowledgement, | ||
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| + | **Step 5 — Wait 30 days.** The PIO must reply within **30 days** under Section 7(1) of the RTI Act. The 48-hour life-and-liberty provision does not apply to subsidy queries. Mark the date on your calendar. | ||
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| + | **Step 6 — Escalate if needed.** If no reply comes, or the reply is vague, file a **First Appeal** under **Section 19(1)** with the designated First Appellate Authority of the same OMC within 30 days of the expiry. If the FAA also fails, file a **Second Appeal** under **Section 19(3)** with the **Central Information Commission** within 90 days. There is no fee for a second appeal to the CIC. You can also file a **Section 18 complaint** directly if the PIO refused to accept the application. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Documents to attach ===== | ||
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| + | - Copy of your LPG booklet first page (showing consumer number, distributor code, LPG-ID) | ||
| + | - Cash memos or SMS screenshots for the refills where subsidy is missing | ||
| + | - Bank-statement extract for the relevant months showing no credit | ||
| + | - Screenshot of MyLPG.in " | ||
| + | - Indian Postal Order for Rs.10 (or online payment receipt) | ||
| + | - BPL certificate, | ||
| + | - Copy of any SMS received from the OMC about biometric authentication or income-limit | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Common mistakes to avoid ===== | ||
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| + | - **Filing RTI to the distributor.** The distributor is a private agency, not a public authority. Route the application through the OMC Area Office, which holds the distributor' | ||
| + | - **Writing the full Aadhaar number.** Only the seeding status is needed; the full number is unnecessary and a privacy risk. Ask for " | ||
| + | - **Omitting the distributor code and LPG-ID.** Without the 17-digit LPG-ID and distributor code the OMC cannot locate your record and will reply with " | ||
| + | - **Filing only to the Ministry.** MoPNG sets policy but does not hold your refill UTRs. The OMC Area Office is the operational custodian. Filing only to the Ministry almost always gets you a forwarded, delayed, or empty reply. | ||
| + | - **Asking vague questions.** "Give me LPG subsidy details" | ||
| + | - **Forgetting the 2026 BAA angle.** If your subsidy paused after July 2026 and you do not ask about biometric authentication, | ||
| + | - **Missing the First Appeal window.** Many citizens give up after a poor PIO reply. The First Appeal under Section 19(1) within 30 days is where most wrongful-withholding cases actually get fixed. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Real-life example ===== | ||
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| + | <WRAP center round box> | ||
| + | Sunita V., a domestic LPG consumer in a mofussil town in Maharashtra, | ||
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| + | On 20 July 2026 she filed an RTI to the CPIO, IOCL Area Office, under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, quoting her 17-digit LPG-ID, distributor code and the four refill dates. She asked for the UTR for each refill, the Aadhaar/ | ||
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| + | The reply, received on 18 August 2026, disclosed that BAA was pending for her LPG-ID and that her subsidy had been kept in abeyance from 1 July 2026 under the 18 May 2026 circular. It also showed the UTR for the 14 May refill had never been generated because her bank-account seeding had lapsed during a KYC refresh in April 2026. Sunita completed eKYC through the IndianOil ONE app on 25 August 2026. Subsidy resumed prospectively from her next refill. For the wrongfully withheld 14 May refill (which predated the BAA deadline), she filed a First Appeal under Section 19(1) and a parallel complaint on the PNGRB Integrated Grievance Management System, and recovered the Rs.300 arrears. Total out-of-pocket cost of the exercise: Rs.10 plus one postal envelope. | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Sample RTI letter ===== | ||
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| + | < | ||
| + | To, | ||
| + | The Central Public Information Officer, | ||
| + | [Indian Oil Corporation Ltd / Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd / Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd] — [Area Office], | ||
| + | [City, Pin Code] | ||
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| + | Subject: Application under Section 6(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, regarding my LPG subsidy under PAHAL/DBTL. | ||
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| + | Sir/Madam, | ||
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| + | I, [Full Name], an Indian citizen, holder of LPG Consumer Number [number] and 17-digit LPG-ID [number], with connection at [Full Address], Distributor Code [number], Distributor Name [name], submit this application for information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005. | ||
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| + | Refill dates for which subsidy is in question: [date 1], [date 2], [date 3]. | ||
| + | Bank account (last 4 digits) for DBTL: [xxxx]. | ||
| + | Aadhaar-seeding status as known to me: [seeded / not seeded / unknown]. | ||
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| + | Please furnish the following information: | ||
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| + | 1. The refill-by-refill ledger for my LPG-ID for the last 12 months, with delivery date, cash-memo number, amount charged, and the subsidy UTR generated for each refill. | ||
| + | 2. The Aadhaar-seeding and bank-account seeding status for my LPG-ID, with the date of the last successful seeding update and the name and IFSC of the seeded bank branch. | ||
| + | 3. Whether biometric Aadhaar authentication (BAA) was pending for my LPG-ID as on 30 June 2026; if so, the exact date from which my subsidy was kept in abeyance under the MoPNG communication dated 18 May 2026, and whether the gap-period subsidy is marked lapsed or held. | ||
| + | 4. If BAA has since been completed, the date of completion and the refill number from which subsidy was restored prospectively. | ||
| + | 5. Whether subsidy was withheld under the Rs.10 lakh taxable-income exclusion notified on 28 December 2015; if so, the PAN/data source used, the date of the 7-day SMS dispute notice, and the notification number relied upon. | ||
| + | 6. A certified copy of any Give-It-Up or opt-out declaration on record against my LPG-ID, with date and mode of submission, or a statement that no such declaration exists. | ||
| + | 7. The contact details of the First Appellate Authority for this office. | ||
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| + | I have enclosed Indian Postal Order No. [number] for Rs.10 towards the application fee. | ||
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| + | I declare that I am an Indian citizen. The information sought concerns my own subsidy entitlement and may be disclosed to me under Section 6(3) read with Section 7(1) of the RTI Act, 2005. | ||
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| + | Yours faithfully, | ||
| + | [Signature] | ||
| + | [Name] | ||
| + | [Full Address] | ||
| + | [Date] | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Frequently asked questions ===== | ||
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| + | ==== Are the Oil Marketing Companies really public authorities under RTI? ==== | ||
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| + | Yes. IOCL, BPCL and HPCL are majority-owned by the Central Government and are " | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Can I file RTI against my LPG distributor directly? ==== | ||
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| + | No. The distributor is a private agency and is not a public authority under Section 2(h). However, the OMC holds the distributor' | ||
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| + | ==== My subsidy stopped after July 2026. What is the most likely reason? ==== | ||
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| + | In 2026 the most common cause is incomplete biometric Aadhaar authentication. The MoPNG communication dated 18 May 2026 set a deadline of 30 June 2026; consumers who had never completed BAA since getting their connection had their subsidy kept in abeyance after that date. The supply of cylinders is not stopped, only the subsidy. Completing eKYC through the IndianOil ONE, Hello BPCL or HP Pay app restores the subsidy prospectively, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Is the Rs.10 lakh income-limit exclusion a real rule? ==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Yes. It was notified by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas through a PIB release dated 28 December 2015, effective January 2016, and applies to a consumer or their spouse whose taxable income exceeded Rs.10 lakh in the previous financial year. From 2025-26 the OMCs are cross-referencing the LPG subscriber database with PAN/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== What if the dealer says the subsidy is released but my bank shows nothing? ==== | ||
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| + | This is the classic " | ||
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| + | ==== Can I get the arrears for the period my subsidy was wrongly paused? ==== | ||
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| + | For the biometric-authentication pause, the government' | ||
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| + | ==== Do I need to write my full Aadhaar number in the application? | ||
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| + | No. Writing the full Aadhaar number is unnecessary and a privacy mistake. Ask only for the " | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Which fee do I pay, and where do I file online? ==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | The fee is Rs.10 per application under the Central RTI Rules, payable by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, cash against receipt, or online payment. File online through the Central RTI portal at rtionline.gov.in and route the application to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which will forward it to the OMC. BPL applicants are exempt from the fee on producing a BPL certificate. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== Where do I escalate a grievance alongside the RTI? ==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | Log a grievance on **MyLPG.in** or the **PNGRB Integrated Grievance Management System at eportal.pngrb.gov.in/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== How is this different from the Ujjwala connection RTI? ==== | ||
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| + | This guide covers the **subsidy transaction log** — why money is not crediting and how to extract the UTR and pause record. The Ujjwala connection RTI covers **getting a connection in the first place** — eligibility, | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Sources ===== | ||
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| + | - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas — PAHAL scheme page: https:// | ||
| + | - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas — Emergency Helpline 1906: https:// | ||
| + | - MyLPG.in unified citizen portal: https:// | ||
| + | - PIB — Give-It-Up and Rs.10 lakh income-limit notification, | ||
| + | - Financial Express — Ujjwala subsidy Rs.300 on first 4 cylinders, cut from 9 (June 2026): https:// | ||
| + | - The Hindu — Pause LPG subsidy for users not completing biometric Aadhaar authentication by 30 June 2026: https:// | ||
| + | - Business Today — LPG subsidy to be discontinued in 7 days if taxable income exceeds Rs.10 lakh (2025-26 enforcement): | ||
| + | - CIC — Omprakash Kashiram v. BPCL, 21 January 2022: http:// | ||
| + | - CIC — Shek Rafikul v. BPCL, 15 September 2022: https:// | ||
| + | - CIC — L. Gopalakrishnan v. IOCL, 9 September 2024: https:// | ||
| + | - PNGRB Integrated Grievance Management System: https:// | ||
| + | - CPGRAMS: https:// | ||
| + | - Central RTI online portal: https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Related on RTI Wiki ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | - [[rti-for-ujjwala-connection|RTI for Ujjwala connection]] | ||
| + | - [[rti-for-money-and-schemes|RTI for Money, Schemes and Subsidies]] | ||
| + | - [[rti-for-pm-kisan-installment|RTI for PM-KISAN installment]] | ||
| + | - [[rti-for-aadhaar-update|RTI for Aadhaar update]] | ||
| + | - [[rti-for-government-scheme-delay|RTI for government scheme delay]] | ||
| + | - [[rti-for-income-tax-refund|RTI for income tax refund]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Need help drafting this RTI? ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | If you would rather not write the application by hand, use our free tools: | ||
| + | |||
| + | - **AI RTI draft app** — describe your subsidy problem in plain language and get a ready-to-file Section 6(1) application with your details filled in: https:// | ||
| + | - **PIO reply checker** — paste the OMC's reply and see whether it actually answers your questions or wrongly invokes an exemption: https:// | ||
| + | - **First appeal app** — turn a poor PIO reply into a Section 19(1) First Appeal in minutes: https:// | ||
| + | - **Timeline calculator** — compute your 30-day, First Appeal and Second Appeal deadlines precisely: https:// | ||
| + | |||
| + | //Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.// | ||
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| + | {{tag> | ||