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A mountain pass at 1,136 m on the Patkai Hills marking the India-Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang district.
Pangsau Pass is an international mountain pass lying on the crest of the Patkai Hills along the India-Myanmar border, in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. It stands at an elevation of 1,136 metres (3,727 feet), which is unusually low for a border pass in the Northeast, and it offers one of the easiest natural routes connecting the Assam plains with Myanmar. The pass takes its name from the Burmese village of Pangsau, situated about 2 km to its east. It is also known locally as Pan Saung Pass and, from its wartime reputation, as Hell Pass or Hell Gate.
Type: PhenomenonElevation of 1,136 metres (3,727 feet) — low compared with most Himalayan passes, which is what makes it a practical trade route
Located on the Patkai Hills, the range forming India's boundary with Myanmar in the Northeast
Lies in Changlang district, one of the least explored parts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh
Carries the historic Stilwell Road (also called the Ledo Road), built during the Second World War
Alternative names include Pan Saung Pass, Hell Pass and Hell Gate
Named after the Burmese village of Pangsau, roughly 2 km east of the pass
Frequency: Mountain passes of India are a recurring theme in UPSC Prelims and SSC General Awareness, usually as match-the-following questions
Pangsau Pass owes its prominence to the Second World War. After Japan cut the Burma Road, the Allies needed an overland supply line from India into China, and United States Army engineers working with local labour drove a road through the pass. The route became known as the Stilwell Road, after the American general Joseph Stilwell, or as the Ledo Road after its Indian railhead. The terrain, disease and monsoon made construction so lethal that the pass acquired the names Hell Pass and Hell Gate. Nampong, the settlement on the Indian approach, remains a site of wartime significance, and the Jairampur War Cemetery nearby is India's largest Second World War cemetery.
Construction of the road through the pass begins
The pass is officially opened to traffic
The first Pangsau Pass International Festival is held at Nampong
1,136 metres (3,727 feet)
Patkai Hills
Arunachal Pradesh, Changlang district
India and Myanmar
Nampong
Stilwell Road, also called the Ledo Road
Pangsau Pass International Festival, held annually since 2007 in the third week of January
The pass sits at the centre of the long-running debate about reopening the Stilwell Road as a trade corridor between Northeast India, Myanmar and southwestern China. Supporters argue it would give India's landlocked Northeast a direct commercial outlet and fit the Act East Policy; opponents point to security concerns, insurgency along the route and the condition of the Myanmar stretch. The pass also hosts a cross-border cultural festival at Nampong that showcases the traditions of the Tangsa and other communities of the region alongside those of Myanmar, making it one of the few functioning people-to-people links on that frontier.
Pangsau Pass: 1,136 m, on the Patkai Hills, India-Myanmar border
State and district: Arunachal Pradesh, Changlang
Also called Pan Saung Pass, Hell Pass, Hell Gate
Carries the Stilwell Road (Ledo Road) built during the Second World War
Road construction began 16 December 1942; the pass opened 20 May 1945
Nampong is the Indian approach town and hosts the Pangsau Pass International Festival since 2007
Pangsau Pass lies on the crest of the Patkai Hills on the India-Myanmar border, in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, at an elevation of 1,136 metres.
The name comes from the extreme difficulty of building the Stilwell Road through it during the Second World War, when terrain, disease and monsoon conditions caused very heavy casualties among the workforce.
It is the wartime supply route built from Ledo in Assam through Pangsau Pass into Myanmar and on towards China, named after the American general Joseph Stilwell and also called the Ledo Road.
It connects India and Myanmar, offering one of the easiest natural routes between the Assam plains and Myanmar.