Bidar is a hill top city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in south India. The city is well known for its many sites of architectural, historical and religious importance. Bidar is symbolically described as City of Whispering Monuments. It is the headquarters of the Bidar District which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city which comes under Bidar Metropolitan area. Being located at the farthest of around 700 km (430 mi) from the state capital Bengaluru, it has been neglected by the state government for a long time. However, owing to its rich heritage, the city has a prominent place on the Archaeological Map of India. Picturesquely perched on the Deccan plateau, the Bidar fort is more than 500 years old and still standing strong. According to the book "Bidar Heritage" published by the state Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, of the 61 monuments listed by the department, about 30 are tombs located in and around Bidar city. This explains the nickname - The City of Whispering Monuments. The heritage sites in and around Bidar have become the major attraction for film shooting in recent years with Bollywood making visits apart from kannada film industry. Bidar is home for the second biggest Indian Air Force training centre in the country. The IAF Station Bidar is used for advanced jet training of prospective fighter pilots on BAe Hawk aircraft. Bidar city is known for its Bidri handicraft products, and its rich history. Bidar is also considered one of the holiest place for Sikh pilgrimage. Unlike other places in the region, Bidar is the coldest and wettest place in north Karnataka. For the year 2009-10, Bidar was ranked 22nd among the cleanest cities in India, and 5th cleanest in Karnataka. SH4 passes through Bidar and the whole city is integrated with 4 lane road. Ancient Karez System in the city have been recently discovered. The Karez (Qanat) is an underground network of aqueducts for water supply. The Bidar Karez, built in the 15th century, is more than 3 km (1.9 mi) long with 21 air vents. Underground canals, built to connect underground water streams, were meant to provide drinking water to civilian settlements and the garrison inside the Bidar fort. This was necessary in a city where the soil was rocky and drilling wells was difficult. The mountaintop town that served as the capital of medieval Deccan, has 98 monuments of which four national monuments are protected by the Archaelogical Survey of India and 14 by the State Archaeology Department, Karnataka. Bidar earned a place on the World Monument Watchlist 2014. Of the 741 proposals received from 166 countries, 67 sites from 41 countries were finally selected which were announced by WMF president Bonnie Burnham in New York on October 8, 2013. Along with "the historic city of Bidar", two other sites in India to figure in the list were the house of Sheikh Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikri and Juna Mahal in Rajasthan. The WMF in its current watch site for "the historic city of Bidar" says ″challenges to the site include a lack of integrated conservation and maintenance, environmental pollution, and the construction of new developments and roadways that encroach on the historic fabric. Current land use regulations also threaten the economic livelihood of many of the city's residents, and it is hoped that revised, context-specific planning policies would both protect Bidar's historic assets while also supporting the future of its local population. It is hoped that Watch-listing will spur documentation and analysis of the city's conditions, followed by policy development and applied conservation interventions that will reveal and maintain Bidar's rich heritage, as well as support a robust and sustainable tourist industry. Bidar has connectivity with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Sainagar Shirdi, Aurangabad, Nanded, Manmad and Mumbai (according to railway budget 2014-15) Construction of the Gulbarga-Bidar link is in progress which is expected to be operational by the end of 2015. Bidar-Hyderabad inter-city train service became operative in September 2012. A Bidar-Yeshwantpur (Daily) express train[46] and Bidar-LTT Mumbai express train service has been started recently.