The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) gave two New Year gifts to the people last week: it increased the water tariff and reduced the consumption limit under the minimum slab. Increasing the rate and reducing the minimum slab is not a new exercise for the BWSSB. The board has resorted to it with success in the past, with the result that its decisions have resulted in the denial of a 25,000-litre free allowance for each domestic connection which the citizens has won after a long-drawn agitation nearly three decades ago.