The first Spinal Injury Electric Vehicle Rally was held on Saturday, June 13, 2009, from Maitighar Shanti Mandal in Kathmandu to the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre in Saanga, Kavre, a distance of more than 20 kilometers. The goal of the rally was to top up the Charity Fund of SIRC while simultaneously raising awareness of electric vehicles at a time when the government is in transition.
The rally was flagged off by SIRC board member, artiste Madan Krishna Shrestha, and attracted 20 of the 26 REVA electric vehicles in the country as well as a number of electric scooters, electric bicycles and converted vans. In addition to the private vehicles, there were three three-wheeler Safa Tempos to represent the more than 300 electric public transport vehicles operated in the Valley. There was enthusiastic participation by the Electric Vehicle Association of Nepal (EVAN), electric vehicle owners and organizations.
At the start of the Rally, member of the SIRC Board, the orthopaedist Dr. Anil Shrestha said that the rally had raised more than six lakh rupees, which was enough for the Centre to support indigent patients for a full year. This was greeted with applause. Bijaya Man Sherchan of EVAN said it was important for a change in government policy to encourage electric vehicles in a country so rich in hydropower. Journalist Kunda Dixit, who helped organise the rally, said he had seen some ministers' cars drive past the line of parked electric vehicles and hoped that they had noticed.
The main portion of the rally involved the electric vehicles making their way through the heavily trafficked and polluted Kathmandu-Bhaktapur stretch, a section that is in the process of being converted into a six-lane highway. After Bhaktapur, the road ascended into relatively serene country, past terraces and forests and finally arriving at the SIRC facility on a bluff overlooking the Banepa valley.
After the chain of electric vehicles rolled into SIRC in Saanga, there was an air of achievement and camaraderie as certificates were distributed. The participants were unanimous in their opinion that the Spinal Injury Electric Vehicle Rally should be organised from Maiti Ghar Mandal to Saanga every year. The participants were offered a tour of SIRC, meeting the spinally injured patients and learning about this particular form of injury in the Nepali context. A 'thanksgiving' lunch was organised at the SIRC canteen, after which the participants dispersed.