The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) will soon discuss a Rs 8,750-crore bailout package meant to assists the financially troubled state of West Bengal led by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

The funds will come in the form of the backward regions grant fund (BRGF) for the state, which has been under the communist rule since decades. The central government had recently increased the borrowing limit for the state by another Rs 2,000 crore.

“The chief minister of West Bengal wrote to the PM in July 2011 seeking support to tide over the state’s financial difficulties that have become a serious impediment in the development of the Jangalmahal and other backward regions of the state,” read a note from the CCEA.

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has modeled the assistance package in the same form as the one given to the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar by UPA during its earlier tenure. The Bihar government had received Rs 8,753 crore under the BRGF.

The panel will set up an empowered committee to finalize the list of projects under the grant. The empowered committee will include the panel, the finance minister as well as other ministers.