Rock excavation in the vicinity of sensitive structures or densely populated areas, particularly within a 100-m radius are always a great challenge. One such excavation was carried out at 9 MW Garudeshwar Weir of M/s Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited, Gujrat. The management had imposed a condition that explosives blasting is prohibited in particular within 50 m from the retaining wall of the said project located at Narmada River close to the iconic Statue of Unity structure of India. This paper explores the potential of Plasma Blasting Technology (PBT) as a safer and more efficient alternative to chemical explosives particularly for hard rock excavation near existing structures. The said (PBT) excavation techniques were explored and implemented at the said project site successfully. The excavation plan for the powerhouse, penstock, and tail pool areas involves the use of plasma capsules to excavate the hard rock up to 10 m from the retaining wall. Beyond 50 m distance, controlled explosive blasting techniques was used. This site was vital to the blasting process because of structure distance from the blast zone and also due to the significance of the iconic structures. For both excavation methods, 3–10 holes were drilled to a depth of 3–4 m, considering safety aspect. Blast vibration monitoring was conducted at two locations near the retaining wall. Plasma capsules were used for excavation within 10–50 m of the wall, while explosives were employed for distances beyond 50 m. During the hard rock excavation, the recorded vibration level from Plasma blasting (0.5–4.909 mm/s) was much lower than the recorded vibration (1.4–11.57 mm/s) from explosives blasting. The recorded frequency range is also in higher side as compared to explosives blasting. The blast wave signature recorded from plasma and explosive blasting were analyzed for designing the blast. However, as the blasting process revealed, plasma explosives have certain limitations. The energy produced during the plasma blast used to escape through the joints and fractures in the fractured rock mass. Therefore, less fractured or intact rock mass were found to be best suited for plasma blasting.