Wheels of Lord Jagannath Rath in Puri are ready. Rath Yatra likely on June 23

Chariot construction for Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra, the annual car festival of the trinity scheduled to be held on June 23, is ready. The final preparations are being carried out to celebrate the nine-day festival with great pomp and show at the coastal town of Puri.

Thousands of handcrafters work for several months and prepare everything from scratch.

Starting from cutting the wood to painting it and putting different parts of Rath together, everything is done with complete authenticity.

The construction venue has been barricaded, covered with cloths as per the instruction of the administration and social distancing norms are being followed. The ''Ratha Khala'' has also been declared a prohibited area.

The chariot construction is being carried out as per the lockdown guidelines, with ''maharana''(carpenter) and ''bhoi'' (log transporters) servitors covering their faces with masks and maintaining social distance, news agency PTI reported quoting chief carpenter of Lord Jagannath''s chariots, Bijay Mohapatra as saying.

Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Krishna Kumar said health screening of around 150 people engaged in the chariot construction would be done.

(With inputs from agencies)