The stage is set for the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings with the three chariots, all decked up, ready to roll on the Grand Road of Puri on Friday.

Weighing 200 to 300 tonnes each, the chariots will take the deities to the Shree Gundicha Temple at the other end of the Grand Road from their 12th century abode. More than 10 lakh devotees, including Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, are expected to join the Rath Yatra.

The annual event is being discussed all the more this time because of the recent controversy over the participation of a group of Puri Shree Jagannath Temple servitors in the inaugural function of Digha Jagannath temple in Bengal on April 30 and its branding as “Jagannath Dham”.

Odia Asmita Parishad convenor Rabi Behera has urged Dhankhar to intervene and ensure that the Bengal government does not “lower the dignity” of Puri by projecting Digha Jagannath temple as Jagannath Dham.

After the deities leave the shrine on their chariots on Friday, the Archaeological Survey of India will take up the repair of the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove) of the temple from Saturday. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration has decided to replace the wood frame installed over the “kanakamundi” (the roof over the pandal in which the deities are seated) with a steel frame inside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine.

On Thursday, thousands of devotees turned up in Puri to have a glimpse of the deities during the Naba Jauban darshan.

As many as 250 workers were engaged in the construction of the chariots for 57 days. The carpenters and artists gave their final touches to the chariots on Thursday.

The chariot of Lord Jagannath, popularly known as Nandighosh, is the heaviest among the three. The chariot of Lord Jagannath, weighs around 280-300 tonnes. Similarly, the chariot of Lord Balabhadra, Taladhwaja, weighs around 250 tonnes and chariot of Goddess Subhadra, Darpadalan, is around 200 tonnes.

Nandighosh is 45.6 feet high and has 16 wheels, Taladhwaja is 45 feet high and has 14 wheels. Darpadalan is 44.6 feet high and has 12 wheels. Nearly 10,800 cubic feet of wood is used to build the three chariots.

In view of the huge gathering expected at Puri, the railways has announced to run 365 special trains. The Odisha government, with the help of private operators, will also ply more than 800 buses for facilitating devotees’ transit to Puri.

All three chariots were pulled by devotees and police from the Rath Khela, the place where the chariots were made, to the Singhadwara of the temple on Thursday. Rath Khela is only 100 metres away from the Singhadwara.

As per the schedule, the deities would step out from the shrine in a procession called the “Pahandi Bije” and would be installed on the mounts of the chariots. Following the completion of rituals, the chariots would be pulled by the devotees one by one.

The deities would stay in the Shree Gundicha Temple for seven days and would return on the same chariots on the day of Bahuda, the return journey on July 5. However, they would remain on the mounts of the three chariots in front of the main shrine, and would enter the temple on July 8, the day of “Niladri Bije”.