In a preliminary step toward rebuilding the area around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, an evacuation designation will be lifted for some places next month for the first time since the crisis began in March.

The government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan also said it will allow evacuees to visit their homes within three kilometers of the plant, an area that has been a no-go zone in the last five months, starting this month.

The move followed some progress in efforts to bring the crippled plant under control, after the first stage of a nine-month roadmap stabilization plan was completed last month. A decision on whether the evacuation status will be lifted in other more heavily contaminated areas will be made after the completion of the roadmap in January.

Tuesday's announcement came amid mounting criticism from local communities about the Kan government's inflexibility over easing the evacuation orders. The government has been fearful of being accused of sending people back to potentially hazardous areas, while residents have been anxious to return home and start rebuilding their communities.

Among evacuees, fears have also been growing that they will never be able to return to their homes and workplaces, forcing them to start a new life in a new place.

Such fears were also fueled by some members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan who called for nationalizing the land around the plant.

In the three-kilometer radius, some 1,300 people lived before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which ravaged the plant and triggered the radiation crisis. Some residents have already given up hope for returning to their old homes, but others are still committed to rebuild their life there, according to local press reports.

A home visit will be limited to two hours. Residents will be boarded on a bus and taken to their neighborhoods. A tyvek protective suit must be worn at all times.

Meanwhile, the emergency evacuation preparation zone, set up between the 20-kilometer and 30-kilometer radiuses of the plant, will be scrapped next month. "The safety of the area has been confirmed," the government said.

In the zone, where residents are asked to stay prepared for evacuation, some 58,000 people lived between five towns and villages. But since the crisis erupted, 25,000 people have left. While evacuation is not mandatory, pregnant women and children have been urged to evacuate. All schools remain closed.

Over the next month, the five towns and villages will prepare to receive the residents by restoring sewage, water supply, and decontaminating school buildings and grounds and other public facilities. Residents who choose to stay evacuated can continue to receive public support.

Even after the scrapping of the evacuation preparation zone, some 90,000 people will still be evacuating, most of them from within the 20-kilometer radius.

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