Kolkata, Jul 24 (IANS): Amid widespread criticism that civic volunteers are being used for regular police duties in West Bengal, especially in state capital Kolkata, the West Bengal Cabinet on Monday finally approved the appointment of 2,500 constables in Kolkata Police.

An announcement in this regard was made by Minister of State for Finance, Chandrima Bhattacharya, soon after a Cabinet meeting. The appointments will be made through the state police recruitment board.

Recently, the administration had faced criticism from various quarters over the alleged use of civic volunteers for police duties.

Even the Calcutta High Court had recently specified the areas in which the services of civic volunteers could be used, clearly stating that they cannot be deputed for regular police duties like maintaining law and order.

Yet there were allegations that civic volunteers were used for regular police duties during the recently-concluded panchayat polls.

Recently, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed dissatisfaction over the “casual and lethargic” approach among a section of the police and directed that the process of pending recruitments should be completed at the earliest.