TEHRAN Deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in parliamentary affairs harshly criticized the Parliament's decision to cut 220 billion rials of IRIB's annual budget.

He said that the organization's expansion projects in Kerman, Kermanshah and Hormozgan provinces have already been halted as a result.

Speaking to reporters at the corridors of the Parliament, Ezzatollah Zarqami said that since it is not possible to decrease the production or to delete any program on the six TV networks, the IRIB has to decrease the production of its provincial centers.

He predicted that the Parliament's move will have serious negative cultural, social and national security effects that will lead to strong public dissatisfaction, rising the rate of the advertisements in TV networks and eventually serious problems in the process of production and broadcasting.

Zarqami said that the rumors about signing 500 billion rial of contracts between the IRIB and some advertising firms is merely a claim and the organization's income from advertisements never reaches such levels.

"IRIB gained 135 billion rials from this source during the current (Iranian) year and there is enough proof to substantiate it," he said.

Following the Guardian Council's objection to the Parliament's decision to decrease the IRIB's annual budget, the Parliament on Saturday permitted the IRIB to use up to 400 billion rials of its advertisement incomes and to deposit the rest in the account of the government.

(IRNA)