This article analyzes the failure of the Indian state in providing compensation to victims of the Bhopal Gas Leak. On its thirtieth anniversary, most of the known victims have not received their compensation or adequate healthcare and have spent three decades dealing with the state bureaucracy for their claims. This is a case where the state’s paternalistic takeover of victims’ claims and compensation, through the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act, 1985 (BGLDA), may have killed thousands because of bureaucratic delays and errors. This article critiques the BGLDA from the economic point of view.