This year, before the fall of his eight-month-old government, he went on a junket again to Scandinavian countries, ostensibly to study harnessing wind power for generating energy, at a time Nepal was reeling under a 20-hour power outage daily.

The prime minister's visit, however, did not result in any steps to harness the wind in Nepal's mountains to generate power.

Diarrhoea, a recurrent event in Nepal every monsoon, has been raging in western districts Jajarkot, Rukum, Surkhet, Dadeldhura, Doti, Accham, Salyan and Kanchanpur.

Cholera strains were also found in Jajarkot, where alone the epidemic has killed over 150 people.

Over 10,000 people are feared affected with the majority being Dalits, the poorest community in Nepal and still regarded as untouchables despite laws against untouchability.

The absence of toilets in villages lead to defecation in open fields, which causes the contamination of drinking water sources and the spread of the disease.

Even in Kathmandu, the capital, nearly 50,000 houses are estimated to be without toilets.