The next of kin of those dying of Covid in Calcutta and Bidhannagar can complain about hearse van operators overcharging at two phone numbers, a Calcutta Municipal Corporation official said on Monday.

The numbers — 9830555111 and 9830011041 — belong to Atin Ghosh, a member of the CMC’s board of administrators who is in charge of the civic health department and is an officer on special duty.

“There have been reports about hearse van operators overcharging people. People can lodge complaints on the numbers,” the CMC official said. “The civic body has fixed the charge at Rs 5,000.”

It is not possible to break down charges based on distance, another CMC official said. “At times, operators have to pick up bodies from New Town or near the airport and take them to Dhapa. If you consider that Rs 5,000 is not unjust.”

The CMC has to transport bodies from the Calcutta and Bidhannagar municipal areas.

The charge has been fixed at Rs 5,000 because the two personnel in a van need to wear PPEs and the van needs to be sanitised regularly, an official said. “Why will operators provide such service if there is no profit? After a lot of difficulty we managed to convince two hearse van operators to transport Covid bodies.”

The CMC’s own hearse vans transport bodies from government hospitals. But there are not enough vans to serve all private hospitals. So, private hospitals have been given the contact details of private hearse van operators. Hospitals are supposed to hand over the numbers to relatives of the dead, the official said.