NEW DELHI: The railway ministry on Wednesday discontinued the practice of presenting gold-plated silver medals to retiring officials, days after allegations surfaced regarding their quality and laboratory tests found that they were made largely of copper.In a circular issued to heads of all zones and production units, the ministry said, “…it has now been decided with the approval of the President that the practice of presenting gold-plated silver medals to retiring railway officers may be discontinued. The silver medals, which are already procured/available in stock with railways, may be accounted for and suitably used for other activities, redressing their utilisation concerns.”Though the circular did not mention any reason for the decision, officials said that there have been various concerns, including the poor quality of medals supplied by outsourced vendors and need for cost-cutting as silver has become expensive.The practice had been continuing since March 2006 when the ministry decided to present all railway employees who seek voluntary retirement or superannuate with a gold-plated silver medal weighing around 20 grams.An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision addresses two issues: one of quality and second of the end of a culture which doesn’t exist in any other ministry or department. Sharing a contrasting view, another official said the national transporter could have fixed the problem and ensured that the quality of medals was not compromised.“Rather than giving the task of procurement of these medals to zones and production units, railways could have tied up with agencies like MMTC for getting them,” said the official.