NDTV Exclusive: On Camera, 2 am Drilling At 'Sinking' Joshimath Amid Ban

All construction work has been banned in and around Joshimath due to land subsidence, or the sinking of the surface

At Uttarakhand's "sinking town" of Joshimath, where more than 700 homes have developed cracks and residents are being moved to safety, banned drilling activity has resumed in the dead of night.

At 2 am early Wednesday, an NDTV team caught on camera stone-crushing and drilling in full swing in the mountains just outside Joshimath, near the highway that connects the area to the holy town of Badrinath.

Cranes were seen carrying stones from the spot after the crushers did their job. The noise from the drilling could be heard for over a kilometre but there was no one to stop the workers.

All construction work has been banned in and around Joshimath due to land subsidence, or the sinking of the surface, which has caused dangerous cracks in 721 houses in the town. Work on an all-weather road was also stopped.