Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 26 -- Keralam environment minister Sunny Joseph said on Friday that the state government has written to the Centre seeking the exclusion of residential areas, agricultural areas and plantations from the proposed Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) in the Western Ghats. The minister said while the latest draft notification published in July proposed to bring 9,993.7 sqkm across 123 villages in the state under ESZ, the state wants the ESZ area to be restricted to 8,590.69 sqkm across 98 villages. "Out of the proposed ESZ, 9,107 sq km is forest land and the remaining is non-forest land. If the non-forest area is kept out of the proposed ESZ, Keralam's concerns will be alleviated. Currently, there are fears among people living in villages that are proposed as ESZ in the draft notification. They have submitted numerous complaints and memorandums to the government," he told reporters. He said the state sent its communication to the Centre on Thursday, adding it had earlier relayed its concerns about ESZ to the Centre's expert panel....