National and local labor leaders alongside salt farmers have issued a fierce protest against the government's decision to import 150,000 tonnes of crude salt on the eve of the new harvesting season. Terming the decision "suicidal" amidst sufficient domestic stock, leaders issued a 7-day ultimatum demanding the immediate revocation of the import order, warning of nationwide highway blockades and rigorous street protests otherwise.

In a joint statement issued on Sunday (October 4), central labor leader Mohammad Bazlur Rahman Bablu, human rights activist Harunur Rashid, prominent salt farmer Jamil Ibrahim Chowdhury, Advocate Shahidullah Chowdhury, Hefazatur Rahman Chowdhury Tipu, and Zillur Rahman Chowdhury strongly condemned the decision. They emphasized that importing foreign salt to benefit dishonest syndicates would devastate the self-reliant domestic industry and paralyze the livelihoods of over 500,000 coastal residents who are already suffering from rising production costs.

Echoing these concerns, leaders from the Cox's Bazar Coastal Salt Farmers & Workers Union and the Matamuhuri Upazila Salt Workers Union called the order a direct threat to marginal workers. The leaders outlined three core demands: the immediate cancellation of the Commerce Ministry's 150,000-tonne import order, fair prices for local salt alongside fair wages for workers, and long-term protection of the domestic salt sector by dismantling illegal market syndicates.