TEHRAN – Asadollah Badamchian, secretary-general of the Islamic Coalition Party, has proposed that the budget allocated for the upcoming local council elections be spent in reconstruction of the flood-hit areas.

Badamchian made the request in a letter to Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Mehr reported on Tuesday.

He suggested that because of the issues faced by the people of the flood-stricken areas, the local council elections should be postponed indefinitely.

Heavy rainfall, beginning on March 19, led to flooding in 28 out of 31 provinces across the country. It affected more than 42 million inhabitants in 253 cities and caused widespread damage to municipal facilities, including health centers and hospitals.

The provinces which were hit hard by the floods were Khuzestan, Golestan, Mazandaran, and Lorestan.

The floods left 78 people dead and 1,137 injured. As many as 295,000 people have been displaced.

Destruction of pipelines and roads as well as closing up the wells in order to prevent the oil spill into the water were also some of the damages caused by the devastating floods.

MH/PA