EVEN though the provincial government had promised wheat flour at Rs 300 per 20kg bag by the beginning of Ramazan, nearly a week of the holy month has passed without the promise being fulfilled to a large measure. No doubt the situation has eased a little in the sense that trucks loaded with this staple food item are seen selling it at certain designated spots at prescribed rates. However, that helps but a small minority; generally, the shops keep charging exorbitant prices and most people have nowhere else to go. The government's Sasta Bazaars at which wheat, along with other edibles, were supposed to be available at official rates are hardly operating. The situation has occurred despite Shahbaz Sharif being the Chief Minister, under whom previously Ramazan meant free availability of all kinds of edibles at controlled rates, at least in the Sasta Bazaars, which had a knock-on effect on the permanent markets. The current political crisis is hardly to blame, for there was not much intelligence or effort required to find out which were the trouble areas in terms of supply for Ramazan, and then concentrating on them. Flour was reasonably obvious, with the crisis ongoing and not new. Once wheat goes down, it should act on other items, which have been overpriced for Ramazan, notably edibles. Until the Shahbaz government gets the supply part of the equation right, it cannot hope for a positive impact on prices. In fact, it should have got them right some time ago, for the impact to be felt during Ramazan. Even if it gets them right at once, the impact may not be felt, in terms of falling prices, until the holy month is towards its end, or is actually over. However, the scale of the human suffering witnessed in the beginning of Ramazan has been such that any reduction, whenever it occurs, will only be welcomed. No one expects Mian Shahbaz Sharif to do anything new, or even to improve upon past performance, but merely to repeat what he has already done.