West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday directed the state home department to look into the option of directly recruiting into the police force those civic volunteers, who have been "consistently performing well", a senior official said.

Banerjee, during the meeting, also expressed concern over the complaints received by her government about non-receipt of welfare scheme benefits.

"The chief minister has asked the home department to consider the option of appointing top-performing civic volunteers as constables. At present, there are a number of vacancies in the force for the post of constable," the official said.

The state has received nearly 5.5 lakh complaints from people alleging that they haven't received the benefits of welfare schemes.

Most complaints were received at the grievance cell, and some during a TMC outreach drive, the official added.

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