When the Chinese communist attacked Lhasa the inhabitants escaped for safety along many routes. One such route was to go north to Phenpo, then move to the east and finally head south, crossing the Indian border just east of Bhutan into Tawang in Aranchal Pradesh. His Holiness the Dalai Lama's escape route from Lhasa was a more southerly route directly to Tawang. Ven. Jampa joined a caravan of Tibetans at Phenpo and thousands of monks, nuns and families moved slowly for two weeks through the high passes and deep snows into safety in India.

Here the Indian government set up camps for the Tibetans with primitive bamboo houses and supplied them with food. Many Tibetans were then moved to Assam to build roads. However due to the climate and the insects large numbers of Tibetans became sick and died. From here, Ven. Jampa was moved to Dalhousie where, for two years, with about a thousand monks, he worked on other road building programs.