No other religion can be preached -- and no mosques or churches built -- in an 80,628 acre area around Tirupati's Balaji temple, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam said yesterday.

The Devasthanam till now controlled a 6,600 acre area that includes Tirumala -- the small temple town housing 10,000-15,000 people, mostly temple workers -- and the ban applied there. The Andhra government has now handed over to the Devasthanam the rights to an additional 74,000 acres of surrounding hilly land, mostly a reserved forest.

The move followed a report by a panel of religious heads and retired judges that Christian missionaries were distributing pamphlets and cassettes in and around Tirumala.

A.P.V. N. Sharma, temple executive officer, said the entire area will be declared a religious and autonomous township. "Non-Hindus will no longer be employed in the service of Balaji," he added.

The committee reported that 42 non-Hindus, living just outside Tirumala, were now engaged in peripheral temple-related services, such as transport and accommodation.

Non-Hindu visitors will virtually be barred from the temple. "Even VIPs of other religions will have to sign a declaration that they have faith in Hinduism to gain entry," a spokesman said.